Jim Martin's Resources and Reflections

Most of the following “Resources and Reflections” consist of what I have read, watched on a video, or heard on a podcast. Hopefully, you will find one or more of these resources helpful.

Being Real, Genuine and Authentic

Some people speak of “being real” when they say whatever might happened to enter their minds at a given moment. Unfiltered words come tumbling out of this person’s mouth. In contrast are the following words from Chuck DeGroat:

True authenticity is not the loudest voice in the room, nor the most unfiltered confession. It is not the impulse to say whatever we feel, whenever we feel it. That may be catharsis, but it is not always truth.

Authenticity is quieter than that. Truer. It is the slow remembering of who you were before the world named you too much or not enough. It is not performance, nor rebellion against performance—it is the shedding of both. It is the alignment of your outer life with your inner essence, the part of you that was whispered into being by God.

This is your inscape (as Gerard Manley Hopkins called it) —not a curated persona or a raw emotion, but the sacred shape of your soul. To live authentically is not to invent yourself, but to return. To listen. To let your life speak from the deep well where you are already known, already beloved.

Again, I am most authentic when my life is in line with the one who created me. So yes, I want to use a filter, a Christ-like filter! (I have said far too many stupid and foolish things to my wife and people I love when a filter might have helped.)

Perhaps you and I will experience our most authentic selves when we allow the Christ-in-us to fully form and shape us into all that we were meant to be.

Fascinating Stories: Why Not Include Your Own?

I have been reading Robert Coles’ book, Lives We Carry With Us. Coles’, a Pulitzer Prizer winner, has written thirteen biographical profiles, which he originally penned over a period of fifty years. The book includes profiles of such people as Walker Percy, Dorothy Day, Flannery O’Conner, William Carlos Williams and others who were significant in Coles’ formation.

I really like this quote by William Carlos Williams in the opening pages of the book:

Their story, yours and mine — it’s what we all carry with us on this trip we take, and we owe it to each other to respect our stories and learn from them.

Far too many of us dismiss our own stories as ordinary, vanilla, and boring. Yet, there is nothing dull about the way God has entered into our own story and has given us life, purpose, and destiny. Our ordinary stories may actually turn out to be stories where God has made a significant difference in another’s life.

Who Do You Admire?

I have been thinking lately about some of the best people I have known. As a husband and father, I have been thinking in particular about some of the finest men I have known.

Some men have high character and are strong and yet also tender and gracious. There are people who practice self-sacrificial leadership. These qualities really impact who they are as husbands and fathers.

On the other hand, other men seem to have low character. They behave and speak in ways that are small, petty and self-absorbed. They sacrifice the needs of their children and spouses on the alter of their own self-centeredness. They passively ignore their soul-shaping responsibilities as fathers.

I love what Rick Lytle, the former Dean of the College of Business Administration at Abilene Christian, said about my dear friend and mentor, Bill Petty. In his book, Abandon the Ordinary, he writes the following about Bill:

Dr. J. William Petty is noted often for his work in entrepreneurship at home and abroad. Beyond that he has the sweet spirit of Jesus Christ. I knew he would be a great asset to our entire work simply because of his presence on our faculty. If our faculty could spend time with him, watch him, learn from him, and see him work, they would be changed for the better. I know it to be true.

What Christ-centered man or woman do you especially admire? How has this Christ-centeredness shaped this person in marriage, as a parent, or simply as a human being?

Between Panic and Boredom

Recently, Russell Moore wrote an article, “The Problem of Panic” for Christianity Today. He writes about a young man who describes the world around him. The young man said:

It’s like everything is in a crazy cycle, . . . We seem to be bouncing back and forth between panic and boredom. . . . I mean, it makes no sense, . . . Everything seems out of control and scary - and boring and dead - at the same time.

I find this to be a helpful description of many in this culture. “Bouncing back and forth between panic and boredom . . .” Maybe you will find this article helpful.

Begin With This Change

The statement below from Viktor E. Frankel is both helpful and true. The quote originates in Frankel’s book, Man’s Search for Meaning, first published in German in 1946. The book is Frankel’s memoir as a Holocaust survivor of Nazi concentration camps.

There is no better place to begin in our relationships with others than in first learning to manage ourselves. This is an important reminder from Frankel.

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.

Sometimes, you and I are in situations where we have absolutely no control. Perhaps you are dealing with someone who is thoughtless and self-absorbed. Of course, you would like for this person to behave more maturely. Yet, the place to begin is by adjusting how you function with this person.

The place to begin, in marriage, as a parent, or in our leadership is in managing ourselves. Again, the place to begin is with me.

Long-Term Transformation

Oxford historian Sarah Williams uses historical examples to speak of spiritual practices that sustain long-term transformation.

I also love this wonderful quote from Sarah Williams regarding courage in her book, Perfectly Human: Nine Months with Cerian (p. 80):

Courage is not the absence of fear and despair; it is the capacity to move forward confidently trusting the maker of the heavens to cover us with the shadow of his mighty hand even if the sky should fall.

Particularly for Ministers, Church Leaders, etc.

These two podcasts are very different from each other. Yet, after listening to each one, I left blessed.

• You may want to listen to the excellent conversation between Chris McCurley and David Duncan (Houston) on “Preparing to Preach.” I have great respect for David Duncan and the thought he puts into his ministry.

• Such an interesting podcast. Rick Gibson (formerly of Pepperdine University) is interviewed on the Los Angeles Leaders podcast. I loved his stories about working in his father’s store.

I formerly served as Vice President of Harding School of Theology, Memphis, Tennessee. Prior to this, I served as a minister in various congregations for 36 years.

I am a husband, father, and grandfather. One of my favorite things to do is to come alongside another person and encourage her or him.

Every other Monday morning, I publish this “Encouragement Note.” You can subscribe at jimmartin.substack.com. You can also find me on Facebook - @jim.martin or Instagram - @jimmartin.jm. My e-mail address is: jmartin9669@gmail.com. Feel free to write. I would love to hear what is encouraging. — Jim Martin