​Hello SPV Family,
This is Grace,
These days, I suppose I’m learning to be a farmer. I am greeted each morning with the scent of lemon blossoms from the two lemon trees at our front door. My husband graciously built shelves throughout our home to house many a vining plants and flowers; leaves and luscious green seems to spill from every corner of our little condo. We planted watermelon in our back planter bed, and herbs in our kitchen window, and have dreams of adding more to our quaint little sun porch. My home has quickly transformed into quite a garden.
The Lord blessed me with many seeds in 2021: seeds of buying my first home, of getting married, of leaving jobs to start small businesses- seeds planted with immense hope and intention. Yet in the New Year, I feel often as though I’ve been forgotten, as if the ground has been covered, the harvest has already faded. The God who brought so much and gave so much for us, who moved mountains and made the stars align to bring so much together for us, has been quiet. “Be patient,” I hear Him whisper.
“Allow the roots to grow.” He says. “Settle in.” And if I’m honest, I don’t want to be patient. 


The reality of a patient life, of listening with a servant heart, is often embracing the mundane moments of where I’ve been placed. I crave nothing of the slow and steady and sustainable growth that the Bible encourages. I don’t want to tend to the garden I’ve been led to plant. I don’t want to prune the weeds, to drive away the pests, to cover the beds in the frost and irrigate them in the drought. I want to dig these crops up now, and in my hurry, my unwillingness to embrace the tortoise and not the hare, I face the ugliest parts of myself. I find that I am not a wife who encourages, but a wife who berates. I am not a teacher who encourages, but a teacher who nitpicks. I am not a manager who collaborates, but a tyrant unwilling to share. I am not a grower who waits patiently for the harvest; I’ve already dismissed my tender and hopeful seeds as a tiny and worthless impossibility. I continue to try to smother the Lord’s gift of patience that He urges me to tend to.
The Lord continually calls us to be patient, and if I truly operate in love, I take the time to give thanks for the abundance rather than tap my foot in anxious anticipation of what comes next. The harvest will come in it’s time; Paul reminds us Galatians 6:9 that we must “not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” In the patient mornings and evenings of tending the seeds- the mundane pruning and weeding, watering, waiting- there is where the true gift, the hope of what tomorrow will bring, is found. 
Here’s to tending the garden together; I pray that as I tend to these new seeds, that the Lord continues to grow His abundant work of patience in me. 
Much love and growth,
Grace 

Chris Cahall
Chris@spv.org

​Hey there SPV!
Have any of you started digging into Galatians yet? We just started a brand-new sermon series last Sunday and I’m asking everyone to read along with me so that we’re all studying the book together. As for the weekly emails, I thought I’d gravitate towards some of the verses in Galatians that for whatever reason didn’t “make the cut” for the sermon. 
So, for this week let’s turn our attention to Galatians 1:10.
“Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
Paul is making it known that what he is communicating isn’t going to be popular or well received by everyone; he’s going to ruffle some proverbial feathers. But at the end of the day, he answers to God and cares far more about what God thinks than any human criticism or pushback he might get. 
Personally, I believe the phrase “the fear of the Lord” is an often-abused text, used by pastors and leaders to spiritually intimidate people. But…there is something to be said for having a healthy respect and reverence for God.  I genuinely believe we’d have A LOT less brokenness in our world if we all carried that reverence /fear of the Lord. People just wouldn’t cheat, steal, lie, assault, take advantage of, etc. if they were properly and humbly submitted to Him. 
But I’ve also seen this verse abused as some feel it gives them a license to be a jerk. That line of thinking goes like this: “I obviously possess the mind & will of God AND I don’t really care if others get mad at me or not, I need to follow my convictions!” 
I’ll just say this: there are A LOT of presumptions when taking such an attitude. 
So yes, caring what God thinks is far more important than what others think but we will see that as this epistle builds, God is quite interested in the depth of our character that is ultimately driven by the person, work and fruits of the Holy Spirit. When we operate according to that (spoiler alert), there aren’t any rules you have to worry about (against such there is no law). 
Much love to you all, Pastor Chris
‭
--
Christopher Cahall
chris@stpetevineyard.org
www.spv.org
  

I’m typing this on Wednesday morning, and on the Wednesday of the Biblical account of Holy Week, there was a dinner in a town called Bethany, with a fairly large group of people (the scriptures mention 17 people by name but there could have been more).

All of the people at this dinner party had been blessed by Jesus in one way or another. Simon was no more a leper thanks to Jesus, the twelve disciples had the awesome privilege of being called to be apostles, Lazarus had been raised from the dead, Martha and Mary had been given their beloved brother back from the grave, and so on...
Mary was there and yet, I’m guessing she felt a little out of place.
She, unlike the rest, was now in a situation where her entire life revolved around Jesus and constant remembrance the life he had called her out of. Despite being publicly forgiven by Jesus, that’s still not a label or reputation you can just shake off and expect people to forget it ever happened, ESPECIALLY in the first century. While Jesus was at the table, she was compelled to do something extravagant- something irrational, something far exceeding what was called for. She ran to her house, and got one of her most valuable possessions: an alabaster flask containing a pound of pure oil of spikenard.
Spikenard is a root that grows only in the Himalayan mountains of Nepal and it was very expensive. It is estimated that this bottle of fragrant oil was worth about $15,000.
Yes, that’s right, I said it, FIFTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS.
What could be done with $15,000?
What objects could be obtained, or what charitable causes could be funded with $15,000?
But Mary was only thinking about ONE THING. 
She hurried back to Simon’s home where she broke — not opened, mind you, but broke — the alabaster flask and poured the entire contents upon Jesus’ head.
“And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.”
And the criticism began…
“Why this waste?” 
“What was the purpose of this excessive extravagance?” 
“This oil could have been sold and given to the poor.” 
“FIFTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS!!”
“Don’t you care about the poor?”
“If you really knew what is important you wouldn’t be wasting God’s money on such things.”
“You just don’t have any common sense; you need to become more practical.”
“It’s a sin to waste things, you know.”
Then Jesus spoke up…
“LEAVE HER ALONE! STOP CRITICIZING HER!” 
“She has done a good work for Me. She’s done what she could.”
“She has anointed my body for burial.”
Silence.

Judas had been the ringleader of the criticism, yet others had joined in- and just for the record, if I’m being honest, I probably would have been among the chorus of voices questioning her decision.
Just saying. but...“She has anointed My body for burial.”
Did anyone really hear those words? I don’t think so. But later they remembered them.
Within 36 hours Jesus would be accused, sentenced, whipped, beaten, marched down the Via Dolorosa, and nailed to a cross to die.

Spikenard is a very powerful fragrance- its scent would linger for days.
I can’t prove it,  but I like to think that this fragrance provided Jesus with some sense of comfort as he was sweating blood in Gethsemane, being scourged at Gabbatha, and suffering in Golgotha.
Jesus said wherever the gospel is preached, Mary’s extravagant offering, and the scent of her act of worship will be told as a memorial to her.
My prayer during Holy Week is that I would be more like Mary; that we would ALL be more like Mary.
May we live with such a deep sense of gratitude for how Jesus has forgiven, rescued, and delivered us.
May that gratitude spill over into extravagant worship and generosity, that others might hear the stories of Jesus and all the amazing things he has done and continues to do now.
May we anoint Jesus this week (and every week) with the precious oil of our prayers, our tears, our devotion, our worship and our generosity.
May we “waste” our lives on the One who poured out His life for us.

Have a blessed week everyone, we are praying for you in this crazy season...
​Please let us know if you need ANYTHING.

​Hey SPV fam!
 
If I’m being honest, I’ve been feeling a little down lately...& if I’m being doubly honest I feel guilty about feeling down (which doesn’t help). I mean, personally, things certainly aren’t terrible. I have an amazing wife & family, I have my health, I know the Lord loves me & it’s obvious I haven’t missed a meal, so what gives? I know what you’re thinking, I’m far, far too young to have a mid-life crisis 😜but maybe I’m just an early starter. I also think that the weight of the world can get pretty heavy at times & we would all be wise to be both aware & prepared. 

-We as a people have never been made so aware of the suffering that goes on around us than what we’re experiencing right now. The world by & large is overall experiencing less suffering than at any point in history but whatever suffering does take place is right there on our tv’s & timelines multiple times a day. I believe this is one of the main contributing factors to the epic rise in both suicide & mass shootings. People are feeling inundated, swallowed up, powerless, hopeless...

-Just yesterday Jarrid Wilson, a pastor in California, who by all optics had everything, beautiful wife & kids, successful church....committed suicide. And what’s even more shocking is that he was a mental health advocate & specifically for those considering self-harm. Read a story about that, think about the 4 year anniversary of my brother’s passing just a few days ago, pray for a few friends battling cancer, watch in real-time the devastation of the Bahamas & the suffering of our brothers & sisters there, re-live the horror of 9-11 & toss in a mass shooting, let alone the personal battles any of us are likely facing at any given moment such as a fracture in a close relationship, battling self-worth, financial woes, etc., all within just a few days mind you & it’s easy to see why things can get very heavy, very quickly for any of us. 

-A friend reminded me of this so I want to remind you: no one who completes suicide is beyond mercy, quite to the contrary, God draws near to the poor & there is perhaps no greater poverty imaginable or harder to experience than the feeling that you must end your own life, or to take the actions that end your own life, except perhaps the loss of a child. So if you’re feeling or ever feel such despair, please know that the cross includes the absorption of the darkness that leads to this kind of pain. Be encouraged by the promise that God's love overcomes diseases of both the mind & spirit & that Jesus takes all of that pain & redeems it at the cross.

-God does not stand outside the experience of our pain & despair but rather in Jesus, God dies with all who suffer & die. The victims of such tragedies, whether it be a disease, terrorism, suicide or something else are held by Love.

-I try to regularly remind myself that death is the great enemy of God & while it is horrific in the moment, it ultimately has no future. It was & is & will be conquered by divine love (1 Cor 15). So I can rightly be angered by it & even hate it but I choose to place my hope in the cross & the power of the resurrection that “the last enemy to be destroyed is death” & his love & mercy will win out. So when you’re down, feeling overwhelmed, experiencing despair & even possibly considering harming yourself or someone else, I want to encourage you to do (at least) these 2 things: 1) reach out & talk to someone & 2) meditate on the hope & promise of this last paragraph. 

Much love & peace to you all, Chris.