{"id":498,"date":"2026-07-11T06:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T11:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/?p=498"},"modified":"2026-07-09T13:30:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T18:30:41","slug":"rooted-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/2026\/07\/11\/rooted-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Rooted"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- POST TITLE: Rooted -->\n<!-- CATEGORY: Rooted \/ Week 1 -->\n<style>@import url('https:\/\/fonts.googleapis.com\/css2?family=Oswald:wght@400;500;700&family=Lora:ital,wght@0,400;0,500;1,400&display=swap');\n.rtd{font-family:'Lora',Georgia,serif;color:#2B241D;background:#F1EBDD;max-width:720px;margin:2em auto;padding:2.5em 2em;line-height:1.7;font-size:1.05em}\n.rtd .eyebrow{font-family:'Oswald',sans-serif;font-size:.85em;letter-spacing:.18em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#46633C;font-weight:500;margin:0 0 .4em}\n.rtd h1{font-family:'Oswald',sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:2.2em;letter-spacing:.02em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#2B241D;margin:0 0 .5em;line-height:1.1}\n.rtd h2{font-family:'Oswald',sans-serif;font-weight:500;font-size:1.3em;letter-spacing:.08em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#46633C;margin:2em 0 .7em;border-bottom:1px solid #C99A46;padding-bottom:.3em}\n.rtd .verse{font-family:'Lora',Georgia,serif;font-style:italic;font-size:1.08em;line-height:1.6;background:#E9E1CE;border-left:4px solid #C99A46;padding:1.1em 1.4em;margin:1.4em 0;color:#2B241D}\n.rtd .verse-cite{display:block;font-style:normal;font-family:'Oswald',sans-serif;font-size:.82em;letter-spacing:.1em;color:#46633C;margin-top:.6em;text-transform:uppercase}\n.rtd .divider{border:none;border-top:1px solid #C99A46;margin:2em auto;width:80px}\n.rtd p{margin:0 0 1.1em}\n.rtd .pull{font-family:'Oswald',sans-serif;font-weight:500;font-size:1.15em;letter-spacing:.04em;color:#2B241D;border-top:1px solid #C99A46;border-bottom:1px solid #C99A46;padding:1em 0;margin:1.6em 0;text-align:center;line-height:1.4}<\/style>\n<div class=\"rtd\">\n<p class=\"eyebrow\">Rooted \u00b7 Week 1 \u00b7 Saturday Recap<\/p>\n<h1>Rooted<\/h1>\n<p>This week we sank roots into joy, which is not happiness but the power to endure.<\/p>\n<h2>Five Storms<\/h2>\n<p>We watched a woman stop gripping for control and discover that a lot of our fear is really a trust problem wearing a disguise.<\/p>\n<p>A man who almost disappeared into isolation, until one friend refused to let him storm alone.<\/p>\n<p>A man who stopped believing the cruel voice in his head and started talking back to it with the truth.<\/p>\n<p>A woman who kept the line open to God through a long, grinding silence, and stayed on it anyway.<\/p>\n<p>And a man who stood in the wreckage of everything he had built and chose to praise God anyway, though and yet.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pull\">We don&#8217;t choose the storm. We choose who we become.<\/p>\n<h2>What I Keep Landing On<\/h2>\n<p>Here is what I keep coming back to, as honestly as I can say it. I have four sons, ages thirteen to twenty-one, and I cannot storm-proof their lives. I have wanted to. But the culture is a storm, and hard seasons are coming for them whether I am ready or not. I do not get to choose the storms my boys will face. None of us gets to choose that for the people we love.<\/p>\n<p>But I get to help decide something better than that. I get to help them grow roots now, in the ordinary, unremarkable days, deep enough to hold when the wind finally comes. And I get to show them, in the way I handle my own storms, that the goal was never to pass the test. It was to be purified by it, to come out more like Jesus and less like the storm.<\/p>\n<h2>He Already Won<\/h2>\n<div class=\"verse\">I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.<span class=\"verse-cite\">\u2014 John 16:33, ESV<\/span><\/div>\n<p>Notice what Jesus does not promise. He does not promise a life with no storms. He says plainly, in the world you will have tribulation, count on it. What He promises is far better than a storm-free life. He promises to be with us inside the storm, and He promises that He has already overcome the very world that is throwing it at us.<\/p>\n<p>That is what it means to be rooted. Not that the wind never blows, but that when it does, we hold, because our roots go down into the One who already won. Rooted things do not fear the wind.<\/p>\n<p>Let your lifesong sing. The storm doesn&#8217;t get to decide who you become.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"divider\" \/>\n<p class=\"eyebrow\">Rooted \u00b7 Week 1 Complete \u00b7 The series continues<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rooted \u00b7 Week 1 \u00b7 Saturday Recap Rooted This week we sank roots into joy, which is not happiness but the power to endure. Five Storms We watched a woman stop gripping for control and discover that a lot of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":499,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rooted"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SU_20260711_BLOG.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":500,"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498\/revisions\/500"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumbleup.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}