The One About “Loop” 360, Mayoral Elections and Ruling the Rollercoaster
Dear West Family
If any of you have any kind of say on when Fall might actually arrive in Texas, I just wanted you to know that I am ready and think it should be six weeks ago.
Last night I drove my Middle-School (yikes) son home from an Austin Stone STUDENTS DComm and found myself stuck in a traffic jam on 360 at 8:30pm. You see, the long overdue work on 360 has begun and so they have started to shut down lanes at night, which is a great grace as I cannot imagine what it would cause on a Thursday at 4:30pm, but I suspect it would involve a global conflict of some sort. As I waited patiently and tried to not get frustrated at the relatively low cost of progress I had a few thoughts and a number of questions, some of which are listed below.
Why is 360 called a loop when it doesn’t actually, well, loop?
Do construction workers get paid differently for working through the night?
Wasn’t it fun when I could stay awake through the night, or like after 9:45? Those were the days.
Why don’t we have trains, or hyperloops, or more buses, or again … trains?
Does anyone else in this jam feel an overwhelming sense of futility as we sit constrained in the gilded cages that we hoped would set us free? Or just me? Probably just me.
But, one of the main things I thought about was the complexity of this sort of project and the number of decisions that need to be pre-planned and then altered on a build of this size. It made me grateful for the relative simplicity of my job as I just read the bible and tell people what I think it says. I can’t imagine what it takes to think through how to make Westlake Drive go under 360 without the latter falling on top of the former. What a complex thing it must be to lead a city. As I think about the mayoral elections coming up in November, I can’t imagine who would want the difficulty of the task that it will be to lead a rapidly changing city into a future that creates flourishing for its residents.
Then this morning my devotion time was from Proverbs 16 and verse 32 stopped me in my tracks. It is so profound and wonderfully true.
“Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.” - Proverbs 16:32 (ESV)
The proverb essentially says this. You know what’s more difficult and more significant than ruling over a city? Ruling over your own spirit and the emotions that it would love for you leave unchecked. Being slow to anger when you feel outraged, and being patient when you feel anxiously rushed, and being loving when you feel a desire for vengeance, these things are all more complex and more meaningful and more powerful than the complexities of leading a city that needs to expand a loop that actually doesn’t loop.
Friends, our emotions are an essential part of us, and they can function as a gift given to us through which we experience much of what God has for us in the world. But they don’t always tell us the truth and so some of the most difficult and important work for us to do is the work of ruling over our own spirits. Fortunately God’s Spirit helps us (if we ask) to think, and to respond and ultimately even to feel in ways that show the rule of Christ over the complex cities of our hearts. You don’t always just have to go where your emotions tell you to go. You can learn to rule over your spirit in a God-honoring way.
If you would like to hear more about emotions and how to feel all of the feels in a healthy way then I would seriously recommend this podcast from some wonderful people in our church.
Last thing, the song this week is Katie’s favorite. We have to sing it every morning on the way to school. It is for all the girl dads out there. Enjoy.
Ben Rector - Daughter (Official Audio)
See you Sunday,
Ross
