Hey friends!

Happy March! We are so glad to have seen our Student Meetup group on Saturday! Great conversation was had, and incredible coffee was drunk. We both really look forward to that time every other week. Work leading up to spring break has been incredibly wild. Is it summer yet?

It seems like as we get closer to break, everyone's anxiety is rising. Everyone is all over the place, and as Pastor Shawn said, everyone is a bit flammable. I hadn't realized that I could light on fire from people. I have simply been reacting, and oh my goodness, it is draining! Do you ever let someone's actions or words light you on fire in the wrong way? What do you do when you're angry? I used to keep quiet and let it happen. I learned to let things go, but of course, all that's going to happen is your encounter that flammable moment again. I've learned, as our Pastors talked about, that the best thing to do is to respond with love. The best thing to do is process that anger in the moment rather than bottle up all of the emotions and lash out.

It's ok to be angry. It's ok to feel all of those feelings. What matters is what you do with all of those feelings. The bible tells us, "Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly." -Proverbs 15:18. I looked up folly on google, and this is what it said: folly or foolishness refers to someone who lacks the proper fear or respect for God. They are therefore prone to go in the wrong direction in life. Man, just like that, an angry moment has thrown us in the wrong direction. When we let anger sit in our hearts and our actions flow from that, it leads us further from God.

This week Pastors Dre and Shawn ask us to be conscious of our anger. They invite us to process anger and meditate on the texts that shows us how to respond. We must learn to replace anger with acts of kindness. Whoa, I know! The fruit of love needs to be what replaces anger. This week as you encounter a moment where you are angry, in pain, upset, I want you to respond with kindness. Respond with anger, respond humbly, respond with patience and honor God in that space. This is a hard one, but we challenge you to work on your anger response and share it with us!

We love you!

Jesse and Marissa