In the Details

Monday, October 13, 2025

Happy Monday, my friends! My aunt loved details. She enjoyed planning events, working through all the details and relationships required to make even the most mundane family gathering special. When the event or her part of the event didn’t go to plan, she wasn’t fun to be around and if you were the reason for the problem…well, you needed to go elsewhere, even if the party was for you. When I tried to plan my college graduation party, she all but made me sit outside. You see, some people like details and they thrive only if all the details are met. Others can’t stand details or are calm enough to be spontaneous. I’m a type-A leader who stresses over every little detail. I hate planning events because I’m a big ball of nerves and emotions. Some of you know how I can get if the catering doesn’t arrive on time or people are late for an event.

I firmly believe that God neither calls us to be comfortable nor do they call us to suffer.

This past weekend, LOVEboldly and Blue Ocean Faith Columbus hosted Bishop Tim Wolfe in Columbus for a series of programs, meetings, and social time. Planning that visit[1] brought up every nervous habit I have including several moments of ADHD-induced decision paralysis. From making hotel reservations to reserving spots for programs to coordinating the details of Bishop’s sermon at Blue Ocean. Some people say that the devil’s in the details, but despite how nervous details make me, I still like to think that God’s in the details.

I firmly believe that God neither calls us to be comfortable nor do they call us to suffer. God knows that humans need to get outside our comfort zones if we have any chance to grow and develop. We need to be stretched and have our thoughts and opinions challenged. One of the great dangers of our insular, media-driven world is that we often don’t have to engage other ideas if we don’t want to engage. We can isolate ourselves to increasingly siloed echo chambers and forget what debate and compromise felt like. These echo chambers are even more destructive for those of us who can largely move through the world unmolested because of our gender, gender expression, race, and access to cultural capital. When your identity is centered, that is privileged, and you can walk through the world with that privilege, your lack of engagement with others makes you dangerous to people who for their very survival, must engage with others, because you no longer can recognize the trouble and hate your neighbors experience.[2] 

What echo chambers are you caught in right now? How does the God who shows up in the details disrupt your comfort zones?

Let us pray: God, we invite you into all the places where we are comfortable, because we know you call us out of those places and agitate us to action. Break open our echo chambers and dismantle the walls we’ve constructed that make us feel good, but which block out opportunities for contact, connection, and growth. Stretch us, God, and help us grow, not only has your people, but as siblings to every person with whom we come into contact, particularly the people you put in our paths. We ask this so that we can be more like you and so that we can be your hands, feet, and voice in our world. We pray in the name of Jesus, our model, liberator, and savior. Amen.

Blessings on your weeks, my friends! Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you.

Faithfully,

Ben +    

[1] Bear in mind that I’m writing this essay the week before it’s delivered so I can’t comment yet on the success or failure of the weekend. I do hope it’s a success.

[2] For a further discussion of these ideas, check out Howard Thurman’s arguments in Jesus and the Disinherited.