Gosh! Where to even start? I suppose where I last left off, en route to Boston for a tech conference at MIT, where I linked up with my mentor, Uncle Kay Yip and a dear old friend, Abby, whom providence has delighted to rekindle a cherished relationship with years later in a foreign land.
I can’t believe month 2 is up, and that we kicked it off with a crazy powerful seminar on “Abiding”. Blessed by Pauline Byron leading us in “Immanuel Time“ where we cast off all our burdens and just be with Jesus. I was sobbing halfway through… and have since rinsed and repeated this simple formula to JUST BE. Pauline, I’m demanding for you to make another appearance when you’re safely back, once is not enough! I also had quite the few scrumptious meals with my mentor, Chris Byron (notice a trend of Byron’s being awesomeeee?). The honesty, transparency and willingness to courageously share on a myriad of topics has been and is a tremendous privilege. Lo and behold, Chris also happened to be partnering with RDG round this time. So even in my workplace, I have more touchpoints of the gentle, sagacious, humble, fun spirit that is Chris. Thank you Lord!
Essentially 4 back-to-back retreats this month for myself. Student Ministry Leaders where I took away the main points of being fellow co-laborers, being responsible TO bring our best and honest selves to our kids and being courageous/humble enough to be able to say “I don’t know, let’s figure it out“ - instead of being responsible FOR our kids’ outcomes and life directions, and to recognize our space as seed sowers, potentially never seeing the fruits of our outcome but trusting our labors to God. “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void“, Isa 55:11. Then came our quasi Men’s Retreat at Shallotte. Where boys become men, countless Coup games were played and the sealubbers thrived as the saline breeze carried their souls a few inches closer to heaven (however much beer, football and fishing that looks like for the average American man). I realized my feminine preferences for creature comforts (thanks mom), and my masculine capabilities of still savoring the rugged atmosphere. Then came our JOG (Journey of Gratitude), where Richard Newton expounded on holistic generosity and helped me realize that if I’m not being generous with my influence, time, thoughts, words, and attention, giving money/belongings away becomes incomplete and I lose out so much richness. Regardless, I exited with a strong desire to allocate a part of my budget for giving and blessing, irrespective of size.
Ahh then came my college buddies from their fall break! I suppose NC really is the happening place if we got folks from PA, MD driving, and even some folk from MA flying all the way down here. I’m gonna be straight, it was a lot of fun to see old faces and we visited the State Fair (felt like the PA farm show), Duke Gardens (so serene and exquisite), and had some large CostCo spicy water to be merry and drown some sorrows. Truly a mountain high and a valley low in the span of days… More and more, I realize where pride blinds me, how sin mars my being, and how errant my ways are. All the while, trying to fight for a restful Sabbath during retreats that consume the weekend. It’s no wonder the month flew by, yet Abiding with Pauline felt like ages ago!
Those who know my woes
Hear my silent throes
La vie en rose
It seemed and was
C’est la vie
It seems and is
Anyways, you didn’t come here to hear me cryptically wax lyrical about my soap opera stories. Let’s see.. ah yes, highlights! I’ve advocated plenty for quasi-PP (prayer partner) time saying that one 1-1 meet a week is not enough to sate my appetite for intentional connection. Managed to pour my heart out at roundtable and be embraced as fellow broken souls redeemed only by Christ. Continuing to find tremendous value and meaning working at RDG and loving automating my work with Claude, which does work that would take me 2 days in 20 minutes… and now I’m expected to 50x productivity… and get more work done in less time and… Hey… I thought AI was supposed to make 6-hour work days and 4-day work weeks!!!
Love, Courage, & Shalom, Regan.
