Summer Stretch 2017 Daily Journal by Monique Renée Meyer

SUN JUNE 18

MON JUNE 19

WEDS JUNE 21

THURS JULY 6

THURS JULY 13

THURS JULY 20

THURS JULY 27

SUN JULY 30

WEDS

AUG 3

STRETCH! Kickoff Potluck Dinner 40 Day Journey Begins Cross Talk Conversation Cross Talk Conversation Cross Talk Conversation Cross Talk Conversation Covered Dish Closing Dinner Cross Talk Conversation

New Sermon Series Begins

6:30pm Faith Building, 2nd Floor

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PRAYER

GUIDE PRAY THE MORNING & EVENING PRAYERS EACH DAY READ THE DAILY BLOG EACH DAY (www.2017stretch.com) DO A DAILY STRETCH ACTIVITY (PAGES 4-5) READ ROMANS 12 EACH DAY (PAGE 6)

QUESTIONS TO HELP WITH JOURNALING How is God stretching me? How do I still need to be stretched? What stretch challenge will I work on today? What stretch challenges am I avoiding? Why? QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AT THE END OF THE DAY How was I stretched today? When did I resist being stretched today? Why? How do I need to be stretched tomorrow? 3

LOVING Reach out to build & restore relationships.

Find a “stretch” partner to meet weekly (or text daily) for mutual accountability. Sit down and have a family meal each night. Set aside 30 uninterrupted minutes to talk to your spouse every day. Set aside 30 uninterrupted minutes to talk/play with your children every day. Have a conversation with a neighbor you don’t really know. Talk to a stranger every day for a week. Walk around your block and pray for your neighbors. Pray specifically for someone you don’t like.

YOUR 40 DAY STRETCH ACTIVITIES

Write as many letters of encouragement to your friends and acquaintances as you can. Write thank-you notes for those who have helped you. Call someone you haven’t talked to in over a year. Hug someone and tell them you love them every day.

Compliment a co-worker for one week.

Admit you were wrong (assuming you are), and ask someone to forgive you.

Write a thorough confession of sin—then shred or burn it.

Share your faith story with someone you have never talked about your faith with.

Make a list of your hopes and dreams and share it with someone you trust.

Invite someone to church or bible study each week.

FASTING Make sacrifices to help change your perspective. For one week, eat only one meal per day—as they do in most of the developing world.

When you come to worship, park as far away from the buildings as you can.

Stop eating in restaurants for one week.

Observe a 24-hour technology fast from all electronic devices.

Fast for one day (unless medically unable).

Give up social media for a week.

Give up meat for one week.

Give up television for a week.

Don’t buy anything non-essential for one week.

Drink only water—give up soda, juice, etc. for the full 40 days.

For one day, get all your water to drink, cook, etc. from an outdoor faucet using a bucket—as they do in most of the developing world.

Observe a full 24-hour Sabbath that includes worship, time with family, rest and no work of any kind.

For one day, use only one gallon of water per person to cook, bathe, drink, etc. Brush your teeth using only one 16 oz bottle of water—make it last seven days. Ride the bus, bike, or walk to work instead of driving. 4

Spend one 24-hour day in complete silence. Stop cussing, grumbling, criticizing, and gossiping for one week. Pay $1 for every mistake, and give it to the poor. Stay out all night—the homeless do not have a comfy home to go to at the end of the day.

LEARNING Challenge yourself to gain knowledge or try something new. Read a book (or books) from Pastor Vance’s list of suggestions.

Listen to a Christian radio station (KLOVE 90.7 FM, 88.1 WAYFM)

Read the whole New Testament.

If you typically attend traditional worship, switch to contemporary for the summer, or vice versa.

Each week, memorize a passage of Scripture of your choice. Attempt to learn some Spanish using the app Duolingo.

Whatever service you attend, sit somewhere different each week.

Ask someone you disagree with to explain their opinion/position/ perspective to you. Just listen and thank them for sharing.

For one Sunday, sit on the front row for worship. If you are out of town on a Sunday, attend worship at a church where you are visiting.

Have a conversation with someone of a different ethnicity. Try to learn something about their culture.

Do something creative that you wouldn’t normally do.

Schedule an appointment with a staff member, just to get to know them better. Spend some time in nature—at the beach, Morikami Gardens, etc.

Work, for 40 days, on giving up one bad habit. Work, for 40 days, on developing one positive habit.

GIVING Share what you have with those who have need. Tithe for one week, or for the entire 40 days!

Perform random acts of kindness for strangers (be creative).

Volunteer with Food Share on the first and third Fridays of the month. Help sort and pack groceries from 12:30-3 pm or help distribute food from 4:00-6:30 pm.

Donate a bag of groceries to the food ministry. Donate all of your change (coins) to the food ministry. Give away something special to someone you know needs or will appreciate it. If you are eating at a restaurant, pay a stranger’s bill. Buy a meal for a homeless person and have a conversation with them. Go through your closet and give away all the clothes and shoes you haven’t worn in a year. If you are tech-savvy, help someone who isn’t learn something new technologically.

On Mondays, Volunteer with Dine with Jesus. Meet at First Church at 4:30pm, or go directly to St. Christopher’s, 318 NW 6th Ave., Ft. Lauderdale, 33311 at 5:30pm. Volunteer with community outreach programs this summer. Spend time with local children at First Church on Mondays and Fridays from 11am-2pm, or at Lions Park on Wednesdays from 5-6:30pm. Volunteer with Children’s or Youth ministry.

TRY TO COMPLETE AS MANY AS YOU CAN!

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on READ DAILY God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

ROMANS 12

I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him. In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we’re talking about is Christ’s body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ’s body, let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren’t. If you preach, just preach God’s Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don’t take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don’t get bossy; if you’re put in charge, don’t manipulate; if you’re called to give aid to 6

people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don’t let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face. Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle. Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality. Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody. Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.” Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.

WEDNESDAY

JUNE 21 Day 1

Morning Prayer Jesus, I ask for you to stretch me today. Stretch my body to serve you. Stretch my mind to learn something new. Stretch my heart to love more. Stretch my soul to make more room for you. Like a new wineskin for new wine, Jesus, I ask for you to stretch me today. Stretch me, so that I can be more like you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

“Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him. Praise the Lord with the harp; make music to him on the tenstringed lyre. Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.” (Psalm 33:1-3)

Evening Prayer Jesus, thank you for stretching me today. For the many times, today, that I resisted being stretched, I’m sorry. I confess that being stretched is difficult and often uncomfortable. Help me to be more faithful, open, and receptive to your stretching-presence in me tomorrow. My sincere desire, every day, is to be stretched more and more into your image and likeness. So, tonight, please help me rest, and tomorrow stretch me again. In Jesus’ name. Amen. 7

THURSDAY

JUNE 22 Day 2

“He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him.” (Psalm 40:3)

FRIDAY

JUNE 23 Day 3

“Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.” (Psalm 96:1-3)

SATURDAY

JUNE 24 Day 4

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

SUNDAY

JUNE 25 Day 5

“Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. (Matthew 14:22-23)

MONDAY

JUNE 26 Day 6

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:18-19)

TUESDAY

JUNE 27 Day 7

“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth.The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy.” (Isaiah 65:17-18)

WEDNESDAY

JUNE 28 Day 8

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.” (1 Peter 1:3-4)

THURSDAY

JUNE 29 Day 9

“He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (Revelation 21:5)

FRIDAY

JUNE 30 Day 10

“Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20)

SATURDAY

JULY 1

Day 11

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8)

SUNDAY

JULY 2 Day 12

“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ...May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:5-6, 13)

MONDAY

JULY 3 Day 13

“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:3-5)

TUESDAY

JULY 4 Day 14

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.” (Ephesians 1:18-19)

WEDNESDAY

JULY 5

Day 15

“Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.” (I Timothy 6:17-19)

THURSDAY

JULY 6

“Cross Talk” is tonight! See calendar inside back cover.

Day 16

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1)

FRIDAY

JULY 7 Day 17

“Now this I know: The Lord gives victory to his anointed. He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary with the victorious power of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” (Psalm 20:6-7)

SATURDAY

JULY 8 Day 18

“Your ways, God, are holy. What god is as great as our God? You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples.With your mighty arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.” (Psalm 77:13-15)

SUNDAY

JULY 9 Day 19

“With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.” (James 3:9-10)

MONDAY

JULY 10 Day 20

“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” (Luke 6:27-28)

TUESDAY

JULY 11 Day 21

“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another.” (Romans 12:12-16)

WEDNESDAY

JULY 12

Day 22

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” (Ephesians 4:29-30)

THURSDAY

JULY 13

“Cross Talk” is tonight! See calendar inside back cover.

Day 23

“May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord my Rock and my Redeemer.” (Psalm 19:13)

FRIDAY

JULY 14 Day 24

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips.” (Proverbs 4:23-24)

SATURDAY

JULY 15 Day 25

“A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid anyone who talks too much.” (Proverbs 20:19)

SUNDAY

JULY 16 Day 26

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:1-5)

MONDAY

JULY 17 Day 27

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Luke 6:37-38)

TUESDAY

JULY 18 Day 28

“Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?” (James 4:11-12)

WEDNESDAY

JULY 19

Day 29

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” (Proverbs 31:8-9)

THURSDAY

JULY 20

“Cross Talk” is tonight! See calendar inside back cover.

Day 30

“Without wood a fire goes out; without a gossip a quarrel dies down. As charcoal to embers and as wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife.” (Proverbs 26:20-21)

FRIDAY

JULY 21 Day 31

“Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain? The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart; whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others.” (Psalm 15:1-3)

SATURDAY

JULY 22 Day 32

“Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. ‘In your anger do not sin’: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.” (Ephesians 4:25-26)

SUNDAY

JULY 23 Day 33

“Then David said to the whole assembly, ‘Praise the Lord your God.’ So they all praised the Lord, the God of their fathers; they bowed down, prostrating themselves before the Lord and the king.” (1 Chronicles 29:20)

MONDAY

JULY 24 Day 34

“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters.” (Psalm 24:1)

TUESDAY

JULY 25 Day 35

“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.” (Proverbs 19:21)

WEDNESDAY

JULY 26

Day 36

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

THURSDAY

JULY 27

“Cross Talk” is tonight! See calendar inside back cover.

Day 37

“Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.” (Proverbs 3:7-8)

FRIDAY

JULY 28 Day 38

“For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:11-13)

SATURDAY

JULY 29 Day 39

“All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord. Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.” (Proverbs 16:2-3)

SUNDAY

JULY 30 Day 40

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17)

CROSS TALK Thursday evenings at 6:30pm in the Orange Room

Gathering around the cross for cross-gender, cross-cultural, cross-generational, cross-political conversations, seeking common ground in Christ. July 6 Dialogue Without Division—Civil conversations around controversial topics. July 13 Family reunion—Seeking unity among diverse followers of Christ. July 20 Seeing every color, hearing every voice—honoring the minority perspective. July 27 Is Mercy Enough? Our responsibility to pursue justice. August 3 Becoming People of Peace—Reconciling broken relationships in the Church and the World.