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What Is in Your Hand? – The Formed Future · Still, Here

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is still here.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: A quiet moment to remember what is true.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Listen to these words from the book of Exodus chapter 4 verse 2.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yahweh said to him, What is in your hand?
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: He said, A staff.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Moses has reasons to feel unprepared.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: He has questions about authority, ability, Credibility and whether anyone will listen to him.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: He can already imagine what he lacks.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Then God asks a wonderfully concrete question.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: What is in your hand?
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: A staff.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing dramatic.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing Moses would have listed as evidence that he was ready to confront Pharaoh.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: It was an ordinary tool from the life he was already living.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: But it was in his hand.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: We often postpone participation because we are looking at what is missing.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: If I had more time,
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: more training,
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: more money,
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: better equipment,
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: a larger platform,
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: more influence, more confidence, more certainty, Some of those resources may come.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Learning matters.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Preparation matters.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Better tools can help us serve more faithfully.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: But waiting for ideal conditions can become a quiet way of surrendering agency.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: God's question to Moses pulls attention back to the present.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: What is already in your hand?
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: For us, the answer may be skills,
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: experience,
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: relationships, tools, time, scars,
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: wisdom, technology, opportunities, or knowledge accumulated across a lifetime.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Some of what is in your hand may have seemed ordinary for so long
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: that you no longer recognize it as a resource.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know how to do something because you have done it for 30 years.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: You may know how to recognize a need because life trained your eyes to see it.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: You may know how to comfort someone because you have needed comfort yourself.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: And today,
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: we may literally hold tools in our hands
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: that previous generations could hardly imagine.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: A phone can connect us to the world.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: A computer can help us create,
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: teach, publish, learn, organize, and reach people across distance.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Artificial intelligence can help refine,
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: sort, draft, and extend work when we use it with wisdom.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: The question is not whether the tool is impressive.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: The question is what love and obedience can do with what has already been entrusted to us.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: Agency begins there.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Not with control over every outcome.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Not with having every resource.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: With recognizing that there is a next faithful action available to us now.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Moses' staff did not become meaningful because it was secretly magical.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: It became part of the story because an ordinary thing was offered into the work of God.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: That may be what participation looks like for you today.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Open the document,
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: make the call,
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: share the knowledge,
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: use the tool,
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: ask the question,
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: offer the hour,
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: tell the story, sit with the person, begin with what you actually have.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: You are not being asked to hold the whole future in your hand,
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: only to notice what is already there.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Take a moment for this prayer of presence.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Lord Jesus, show me what is already in my hand.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: Keep me from waiting for perfect conditions before I become available to you.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Help me recognize the skills,
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: experience, relationships, tools, time and opportunities you have entrusted to me.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: Give me courage to offer what I have without comparing it to what someone else has.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: Lead me into the next faithful use of what is already within reach.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: As you take this message into your day, Carry this prayer with you.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: Show me what's in my hand.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: Lead me to the next faithful step.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Show me what's in my hand.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Lead me to the next faithful step.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Show me what's in my hand.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Lead me to the next faithful step.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, stay steady, stay open, stay present.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: You are still here.