The Joy of Glory

Discovering endless joy in the boundless glory of God…

Tag: prayer

January 26, 2026

“New”

*Every year, I write a letter to our church reflecting on what the Lord has done in my own life and in our midst over the previous year. Below is the letter I shared at our annual meeting on January 25, 2026.

My Dearest Shades Valley,

I don’t know if I have a better way to describe 2025 then simply with the word, “new.” This year has brought so many new things into my life personally and into our life as a body, and, honestly, it has been a beautiful thing. Don’t get me wrong, there has been plenty this past year that has been hard and that I don’t care to redo, but amidst all the craziness in our world, it has been really good for my heart to see the Lord doing something new.

In my family, it has seemed like everybody has been hitting new landmarks or at least getting involved in new things. Charis began her senior year and is months away from graduating; Levi started competing in Rubik’s cube competitions, Robotics, and now appears to be addicted to yo-yoing; Talitha became my new wedding date, joined drama club, and is about to be our third teen; Asher continued his black belt journey, which is nearly complete; and, to my delight, Solomon fell in love with basketball (the only sport I played throughout my youth).

Not to be left out of all things “new,” Holly and I had a landmark or two. Holly won a silver medal in traditional forms at the highest level of competition available in her Taekwondo organization, “Worlds.” As for me, my running addiction hit an all-time high in November when I ran my first marathon… and yes, I hope to run another. But, the biggest “new” for us is that our marriage just turned twenty-two, and while every year of marriage is a “new” one… it’s my favorite “new” every time.

All the things I’ve listed are really just the beginning of the new things the Lord has been doing in my family, but I must move on because there are so many “new” things I’ve also seen him doing in our midst as a church. Of course, the easiest thing to point to as “new” in 2025 would be our 9 a.m. Discipleship hour, and what an incredible blessing it has been. I have seen so many new relationships formed, people grow in their faith, and so many gifts being used to bless the body. 

There are smaller, practical new things I could point to as well. Like, the resource tables and the visitor’s guide. We’ve seen these help new people be less confused as well as become a tool our members use when engaging new folks. Several new events took place this year including the first youth summer camp since I’ve been at Shades. I had the privileged of being the camp speaker, and it was awesome to see our students connect with those from two other churches and grow in their relationship with Christ and one another. We also did a trunk or treat in a totally new way that engaged the neighborhood around us and was truly a blessing to everyone involved. And something you may not know about, is the fact that we have a group of post-college-young-adults here who are flying under the radar while making all sorts of new things happen. Many of them were key volunteers in the trunk or treat I mentioned, but they’ve also started community groups and prayer gatherings… it has truly been amazing to see.

But… if I’m completely honest about my favorite new thing… it is the people God has been bringing. We have seen so many new faces over the past year. God has been bringing new people into our midst and many of them have become family. Shades, every person who enters our doors is a gift, and I rejoice that God graciously gives us the chance to be a part of their story. I don’t know why 2025 was particularly a year he chose to bring so many our way, but I do know what I am committing to for 2026! I am committing to praying, dreaming, brainstorming, and implementing new ways of inviting these new folks deeper into the community our body shares. 

The top two things we hear from those that are new to shades is how much they love the community they see AND how hard it can often be to become a part of it. I am committing to trying new things to remedy that feeling, believing that if God brings them to us, we are meant to bring them in. I know that is already our heart, so I’m committing to helping us figure out how to do it with our hands and feet!

Finally, as your pastor, let me say that I am ever grateful that Shades is a church who loves their staff. At the close of 2025, I have been so grateful to see that in a whole new way as you have loved on the Browns amidst the difficulties they have faced. It has been beautiful to see you literally be the church of Acts 2:45, “…they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.” Shades, I don’t know any other way to express what my heart feels than to say this… as a father, I never feel more loved or more grateful than when someone loves my kids… and as a pastor, I never feel more loved or more grateful than when someone loves my staff.

Thank you. I praise God for all the new he has done in 2025, and I praise him in advance for all the new he is going to do in 2026. I know you do, too.

I love you all,

Pastor Jonathan

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January 31, 2025

Unsettled

*Every year, I write a letter to our church reflecting on what the Lord has done in my own life and in our midst over the previous year. Below is the letter I shared at our annual meeting on January 26, 2025.

My Dearest Shades Valley,

This past year is hard for me to describe. The only word that comes to mind for me personally is “unsettled.” I am a creature of habit, and I like it that way. I could eat the same thing every day, do all the same things, and lay down to sleep perfectly satisfied. But unfortunately, there’s this thing called time. Time has a way of unsettling things. My little children aren’t so little anymore as Levi has outgrown me. More than that, the majority of my kids are now in the youth group, and I feel like I’m still playing catch up. Where did all my toddlers go?

You’d think that twenty-one years of marriage would really make things settle into a routine, but Holly and I keep changing. I was once the social butterfly of our family, but she has grown into that role while I’ve become an old curmudgeon who just wants to stay home. I exaggerate and I kid, but there is some truth to what I am saying.

In so many ways, 2024 made me feel unsettled, like I was losing control, and perhaps that’s one reason I locked in on a health journey as a new routine, a new comforting thing I could control.  But it wasn’t just my family life that God was unsettling. In 2024, we finalized Brad’s part-time hours here so he could also do part-time counseling. And if that wasn’t enough of a shift in my work routine, John-Mark went on Sabbatical about the same time Joely went on maternity leave.

My head was left spinning and by the end of the summer, I was reeling from the busiest season I’d ever seen at Shades. But I believe God was doing something through all of this “unsettling.” He was preparing me for something new. A new phase of life with my family. The Lord refused to let me settle into being comfortable and putting things in cruise control. He roughed up my routines to revive my engagement with my wife and kids. He shook me to wake me, so that I might not long for what once was, but might love what actually is the gift in front of me. God was preparing me and serving my family.

God was also preparing me for a new phase of life at Shades. Refusing to let me phone it in, keep it comfortable, be satisfied with what is good even if it is not what is best. The Lord unsettled me so that I might pay better attention to our discipleship needs. And, as you know, we are aiming to meet those needs in 2025. I am so thankful for all the men and women who helped to develop and refine our discipleship plan. I know there are others who would love to have been involved in the planning, which is why I am thankful the plan is unfolding in phases. This allows us time to talk and make tweaks… time to think and to dream… time to pray, try, revise and redo.

Shades, I know that new things can be unsettling! I feel unsettled is all I’ve felt for the past year. But, I believe that was God preparing me to serve you when things feel unsettling. And ultimately, I believe through the unsettling, he is doing something good. I know that is true in my family.

As comfortable as I was having kids, I wouldn’t go back in time if I could, because I love the gift of my teens (and my tween). As much has Holly and I have changed over time, I wouldn’t dream of hitting rewind because I don’t want to miss who we are right now. I can look back on my family and see that God has been good, but it is the unsettling that forces me to see he is doing something good. 

And Shades, I believe the same is true for our faith family. We can look back and see that God has been so good. But, in 2025 I want to see, I believe we will see, that he is doing something good… even when it feels unsettling.

I love you all,

Pastor Jonathan

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July 5, 2016

A Prayer for Asher

Heavenly Father…

Yet again you have graced me with a gift I did nothing to deserve. I hold in my arms my fourth child… my second son… Asher David Haefs. I find myself more in awe of your mystery and miracles every time I experience the wonder of a baby’s entrance into the world. It seems like the opposite should be true… I should be growing more accustomed to this by now… I should be used to it…

…but i’m not.

How one could ever become numb to revelations of glory is beyond me. The mountain range of your majesty looms larger with every peak I summit.

And… as I see more and more of your greatness, I simultaneously feel more and more of my depravity. Why me? Why would I be graced with such a gift? Why would I be entrusted with such a treasure? Why would you choose weakness such as me?

That’s when my heart hears your reply… “My power is made perfect in weakness.”

Oh Lord, this is the prayer of my heart and the cry of my soul… that your power would be made known to this beautiful boy even when it when the only way for it to be seen is through my weakness! Exploit my weakness everyday if it means him seeing more of you! I know that I am merely a weak vessel of clay that’s ready to crack… still I have this treasure… that you would pour forth your power through the cracks in such a way that all may know it could obviously come only from you!

God, you must father this child, as you do all my children. You must guide, strengthen, raise, nurture, lead, discipline, care, and comfort. You must be his rock, his foundation, and his salvation… for I can never be any of these things. Keep me from ever thinking I could substitute for you. Let this be the single greatest thing I ever teach him, namely, that his needs will not be met in me, but in you and you alone.

We have named him Asher (which means “happy”) in hopes that he will truly live up to his name and know the deepest, highest, widest and longest happiness… you!

HAPPY is the man whose transgressions are forgiven! HAPPY is the man whose sin is covered! HAPPY is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity! May Asher know the reason the forgiven are so happy, namely, their sin no longer stands in the way of having you! Oh I pray he knows the joy of his sin being removed so that he gets you! Let him experience fullness of joy in your presence, and everlasting pleasure at your right hand! May he drink deeply from the eternal fountain of your glory, which alone can quench his eternal thirst for joy!

And, oh Lord, let us be faithful to help him see the way to your waters!

Empower us our hearts’ to be a to the rhythm of “To live is Christ and to die is gain” so loudly that his own heart knows no other beat. In life and in death, I pray his soul treasure is you…and i pray he learns this because you are our sole treasure.

Father, use my life and death however you choose to point him and his siblings to this reality. May my life never give them the false impression that the things this world has to offer could be rightly called “gain.” If I gain this whole world, but forfeit my soul… I have lost everything!

May it never be!

Teach me to sacrifice all this world has to offer in order to purchase the pearl of your kingdom!

Oh Father, use my life in any way you choose to teach Asher the true meaning of his name… to teach him what true happiness is… it is you and only you!

This is my prayer that I lay before your throne with tears of sorrow and joy… sorrow for the world and the narrow way that I know Asher must endure… but joy for the person and prize that empower him all the way and await him in fullness at the end.

I boldly put this prayer before your throne with great confidence because I know I approach through the blood of your own son who payed the price for me to pray! I pray in power, because I know the power is not my own, but the very power of your Spirit working in me and praying for me even as my words fall short. He prays for me when I don’t know how.

So through your Son Jesus and by the power of your Holy Spirit… I pray for my son Asher… may he know the meaning of his name… may he know true, everlasting happiness in you.

Amen.

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