On Life and Leadership, July 2026
Volume 1. No. 2
July 2026
Welcome back.
Last month, I described this newsletter as a pass-along — a brief, monthly gathering of what I'm reading, thinking about, and praying through, written with pastors, leaders, and ministry partners in mind. That hasn't changed. What I hope is building, issue by issue, is a small library of things worth returning to: quotes that reorient, articles that challenge, prayers that linger.
There are pieces here about aging with purpose, praying with the whole church across the centuries, learning to respond wisely (slowly, cautiously, carefully—and many times, silently) to the latest hot takes, and a remarkable look at Abraham Lincoln that I think every leader should read. As always, my hope is simple: that something here meets you at the right moment, sharpens your leadership, and draws you nearer to Christ.
Worth Imitating:
Abraham Lincoln
Leading Through the Weight of Melancholy
What does it look like to lead faithfully when darkness doesn't lift? Few historical figures answer that question more compellingly than Abraham Lincoln. In a rich longform essay at Mere Orthodoxy, Eddie LaRow traces Lincoln's lifelong battle with what he called "the hypo" (what we would today recognize as severe depression) and makes a striking argument: Lincoln's greatness cannot be separated from his suffering. His melancholy was not an obstacle to his leadership. It was fuel for it.
Lincoln endured the deaths of his mother, a fiancée, and two sons. He suffered two debilitating breakdowns. He led a nation tearing itself apart while death threats stacked up on his desk. And yet he pressed on; not by burying the darkness, but by carrying it forward with a tenderness and moral seriousness that more cheerful men could never have reached.
For those of us who lead — and who sometimes lead while quietly struggling — Lincoln is a bracing reminder that God does not require us to be untroubled in order to be useful. He requires us to keep going.
Without Comment:
According to the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic:
Although some blood vessels are relatively small, they form a vast network. If all the vessels belonging to a single person were laid out end to end, they would span 60,000 miles — long enough to circle the circumference of the globe more than twice.
Your heart beats about 100,000 times every day. Over the course of a lifetime, the human heart will beat roughly 3 billion times while pumping blood to every part of the body.
Psalm 139:13–14 (ESV)
"For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well."
“A group of NYU students were upset that Jonathan Haidt — the NYT bestselling author and public intellectual — was selected as their commencement speaker. They wrote a letter to the administration saying his selection made them feel "disappointed" and "unseen," and they walked out when he began his speech. Haidt wrote The Coddling of the American Mind, which describes the rise of a generation that wants to screen out anything that makes them feel uncomfortable. Hmmm.”
Mike Woodruff
Worth Sitting With:
The quotes this month cluster, almost without planning, around a single question: what does it look like to keep going faithfully in leadership, in faith, in life when the road is hard and the work is long? Read them slowly.
"Unexpected kindness is the most powerful, least costly, and most underrated agent of human change." (Nicky Gumbel)
"Adam fell. Noah got drunk. Abraham lied. Jacob deceived. Moses murdered. Aaron caved. Rahab prostituted. Gideon feared. David took. Elijah despaired. Jonah fled. Thomas doubted. Peter denied. Paul persecuted. We rebelled. Jesus redeems." (Matt Smethurst)
"If our core message is forgiving grace, we should be the most humble, loving, forgiving, and welcoming community on earth."
(Paul David Tripp)
"Most organizations are not held together by the loudest people. They're sustained by faithful employees, dependable assistants, loyal friends, humble leaders, and steady servants. Invisible faithfulness often supports visible success." (@wisdomcallingnow)
"Be where your feet are: Don't focus on yesterday's regrets or tomorrow's worries. Be present in this moment." (Brad Brisco)
"The determining factor in your relationship to God is not your past, but Christ's past; not your record, but Christ's record."
(Tim Keller)
"This world is full of sorrow because it is full of sin. It is a dark place. It is a lonely place. It is a disappointing place. The brightest sunbeam in it is a friend. Friendship halves our troubles and doubles our joys." (J.C. Ryle, Practical Religion)
"There is a great market for religious experience in our world; there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, little inclination to sign up for a long apprenticeship in what earlier generations of Christians called holiness." (Eugene Peterson)
“1. God is not in a hurry. 2. Enter the room listening. 3. Singing lowers anxiety. 4. Christianity is realistic before it is hopeful. 5. We are not told to pick up our comforters, put on our slippers, and take a stroll. We're told to take up our cross. Leadership demands surrender and sacrifice, and the work is never done.” (Mike Woodruff)
"I would not be truthful if I attributed my embrace of Christianity solely to the realisation that atheism is too weak and divisive a doctrine to fortify us against our menacing foes. I have also turned to Christianity because I ultimately found life without any spiritual solace unendurable — indeed very nearly self-destructive. Atheism failed to answer a simple question: what is the meaning and purpose of life?" (Ayaan Hirsi Ali, via Rich Johnson, Holy, Healthy, and Humble)
Worth Reading:
Stop Believing Your Best Years Are Behind You
Darryl Dash offers a powerful challenge to the cultural assumption that life's best contributions happen in youth. Drawing on 2 Corinthians 4:16 — "our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day" — he argues that the second half of life, when wisely stewarded, can be our most fruitful. The goal isn't to coast to the finish. The goal is to run the second half faster.
20 Years of Collecting Prayers from Church History: An Annotated Guide
Trevin Wax has spent two decades gathering the greatest prayers of the church — from the early fathers to the Puritans to the Reformation. In this annotated guide, he recommends the best collections for anyone who wants to pray with more depth and historical rootedness. A wonderful resource for your own devotional life or for those you disciple.
You Can Conform to Christ Even If You Don't Conform to Me
Tim Challies tackles one of the more counterintuitive features of the Christian faith: that God gives his people genuine freedom to obey him differently, so that two believers can take opposite actions and both honor the Lord. A timely and gracious word for an age prone to demanding conformity — to us — as the test of conformity to Christ.
25 Edifying Movies to Appreciate America at 250
As America marks its 250th anniversary this July 4th, Brett McCracken offers a curated list of films that capture the texture, history, and common grace of this nation. From Hoosiers to Minari to True Grit, each film illuminates a different facet of the American story. A great starting point for meaningful summer viewing.
Why Hot Takes Are the Enemy of Conviction
Joe Carter makes a sharp distinction between having an opinion and having a conviction. In our algorithm-driven age, we've become remarkably fast at forming opinions — and remarkably slow at developing the kind of deep, sustained commitments that shape a life. The ancient remedy? The desert fathers called it stability. Carter calls it staying convicted when the feed has already moved on.
The Great "Unretirement": Why Seniors Are Choosing to Keep Working
A fascinating longread from the National Post on the growing trend of older adults returning to — or simply never leaving — the workforce, not out of necessity but out of purpose. This piece connects naturally with the broader theme of this issue: the later years of life are not a time to wind down but to continue contributing meaningfully.
Worth Buying:
What does it mean to live well? David Gibson answers that question by turning to one of the most neglected books of the Bible: Ecclesiastes. His central argument is that meditating on our mortality — keeping death in view — actually liberates us to live with greater joy, purpose, and wisdom in the present.
It's a short book with a long reach, and one of the best reads (in my opinion) on what it means to number our days.
Highly recommended!
Living Life Backward by David Gibson
Worth Listening to:
Switchfoot's brand new song “Beautiful Life” (from their new album ‘Forever Now’) arrives like a word of encouragement for anyone leading through a hard season. Built around the tension between darkness and light, struggle and perseverance, it's the kind of song that lodges itself in you and keeps speaking.
The refrain — that “you are never alone in the fight”, and that “love is the voice guiding you home” — connects directly to everything this issue has been sitting with, from Lincoln's long walk through the dark to Catherine of Genoa's prayer for a soul in need of renewal (scroll to the end!)
Worth putting on, turning up, and letting settle.
On Health:
Most injuries happen because people try to go too far, too fast — or try to do too much, too soon. Patience isn't just a virtue; in training, it's the strategy.
"Yes, I've had moments of euphoria known as the 'runner's high,' and there are reams of scientific studies showing that running improves mood, alleviates depression and anxiety, and basically does every good thing for your brain short of removing it from your skull, giving it a wash and a blow dry, and putting it back in all toasty warm."
Peter Sagal, Runner's World
You will never outrun — or out-exercise — a bad diet.
"One donut won't make you fat. One workout won't make you jacked. What you do in a day won't define you. But the habits you repeat for a year will."
Brooks Coleman
"God made us to move and to do so vigorously. And he wired our brains to leverage vigorous movement, reward it, and reinforce it. Exercise makes happier humans, and God made humans to be happy — in him — with bodily movement being an assistant, rather than an adversary, to Christ-exalting joy."
David Mathis
"The best place to relax is near water. After just 2 minutes of viewing water outdoors, blood pressure and heart rate drop. It's more calming to look at a lake, pool, or stream than at trees or grass. Beaches are popular for a reason. Wider bodies of water bring more tranquility."
Adam Grant
And finally,
Worth Praying:
"In Him was life, and that life was the light of men."
John 1:4
"Lord, I bring the poverty of my soul to be transformed by your beauty; the wildness of my passions to be tamed by your love; the stubbornness of my will to be conformed by your commandments and the yearnings of my heart to be renewed by your grace; both now and forevermore.
Amen."
Catherine of Genoa (1447–1510)
Keep reading, keep leading, keep growing forward in Christ.
Until next time!
Grace & Peace,
