Hi Reader,

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The Gate Home

I am writing this from SLO. Shorthand for San Luis Obispo Airport in California. Heading home to Texas.

I spent this week at Sky Rose Ranch. 22,000 acres of dry hills, trails, wildlife, and God. Mighty Oaks Warrior Program facilitated the event. It included a room full of men, 27 to be exact, who have carried heavy things a long way. It was good. It was hard. Both are true, and neither negates the other.

Most of what happened in that room stays in that room. That is how it should be. What happens in Fight Club stays.

One passage followed me all the way to the gate, and I want to hand it to you.

The Sword in the Garden

John 18. The garden. The torches are coming through the trees. Peter sees the threat, does what soldiers do, and draws his sword. He closes with the enemy and takes an ear off the high priest's servant.

And Jesus stops him. Rebukes him.

The Cup the Father Gave

Read it again slowly. Jesus does not call the arrest an accident. He does not call it Rome's cup, or Judas's cup, or the priests' cup.

The hardest night in history arrived through the hands of enemies. Jesus received it from the hand of His Father. That is the difference between despair and trust, and it is razor thin, and. it. is. everything.

The sword answers to fear. The cup answers to trust.

Courage, Aimed Wrong

Here is what strikes the soldier in me. Peter's instinct was not cowardice. It was courage, aimed wrong. He wanted to fight the hard thing. Jesus chose to drink it, because He knew who poured it.

And notice what else He does in that garden. When the detachment comes for Him, He steps forward and says, "I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go." He takes the cup so His men can walk out of the garden. That is what a leader does with suffering. He absorbs it on behalf of the people he loves.

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Some of us have spent years treating every hard season like the garden fight. See the threat. Draw. Close with it. Cut our way out.

Some things should be fought. I am not telling a warrior to stop being one.

But some seasons are not an enemy to defeat. They are a cup to drink, poured by a Father who loves you, doing work in you that comfort never could. This week reminded me that good and hard are not opposites. Sometimes they are the same week.

This Week's Challenge:

Ten minutes, paper and pen. Write down the hardest thing in your current season. Then write one honest sentence next to it: what would change if I received this from my Father's hand instead of only fighting it? Pray John 18:11 over that page. Then put the pen down and thank Him for one good thing the hard season has produced. That is the whole drill.

If this landed, reply with the word CUP and tell me what hit the hardest. I read every reply.

Holding the whole picture with you,

Joshua Brooks, CFP®

Army Reserve Chaplain.

Founder, Exponential Advisors.

P.S. The other group at the ranch had a 2:00 am departure for their airport run. Mine did not. I have carried heavier rucks, but I received that mercy from the Lord.

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Exponential Advisors LLC is an investment adviser registered with the Texas State Securities Board. Registration with any securities authority does not imply a certain level of skill or training.