One thing I want to say up front. While I helped bring Forge Tribe together, this is the first time I’m actually walking through this content in real time. I’m not ahead of it. I’m being exposed to it the same way you are. The story of Cyrus stood out in a way I didn’t expect. Cyrus was a Persian king, not part of Israel, yet God names him in Scripture and uses him to restore Jerusalem and send the Jewish people back from exile. That’s not random. It shows a level of continuity and intentionality in the Bible that’s hard to ignore. God isn’t just working inside one group of people. He is orchestrating history itself, using whoever He chooses to move His story forward. That shifted how I see things. It makes me think about how often God is working through people and situations that don’t look obviously spiritual, but are still part of something much bigger than we can see. As the week moved into the life of Jesus, especially the Sermon on the Mount, what stuck with me was how direct He is about the heart. Not just behavior, but what’s underneath it. It made it clear that this isn’t about meeting a standard. It’s about something deeper that none of us can fix on our own. That tension between wanting to live rightly and recognizing that I can’t produce righteousness on my own kept coming up for me. But Day 35 was what brought everything into focus. I was sitting there holding my third son, a newborn, while reading it, and that changed how I saw it. Most of the language around the table, the bread, the cup, the covenant feels heavy and layered. It’s easy to understand it intellectually but still feel a distance from it. What connected for me was something simple. My son can only receive. He doesn’t contribute anything. He depends completely on what’s given to him. And it made me realize how difficult that posture is for me. Most of my life has been built around figuring things out, carrying responsibility, and making things happen. That instinct has served me, but it also shapes how I approach God.

Team, within these 40 days I had an issue with my knee degenerate rapidly. A small meniscus tear went from bad to worse; requiring surgery. I am now out of surgery and healing. However, it is a very challenging time for it to happen for two reasons. I was moved up to a new and important position at work, but I had to get surgery within my first five days of moving up. It was very awkward to have to ask for immediate time off. The other reason this is challenging is work is where I am weakest at faith. It is where I seek validation as a man. It is a very slippery slope into sin for me. I had started to address the issue in my heart and put things that were coming to light in the Crucible into practice on the battlefield. Now I’m sidelined. I’m feeling down for not working and also not working on good practices from the crucible in the field. So I ask for prayer for healing because it does need to heal correctly. I can mess it up if I try to do too much. But more importantly, to let go of my desire to work and earn healing (physically and spiritually). I still think I have something to do. Something to put into practice. Disciplines to cement into my life. But right now, I definitely can’t do much! So I ask for prayer to accept these challenges and to be changed by God outside of my own work (which my work is very little at this point). I would like to thank you for any prayer ahead of time and appreciate what is happening for all of us right now. Have a great day and God bless.

Genesis 3 brought me face to face with the way temptation actually works. The enemy rarely shows up with something obviously destructive. It usually begins with a quiet conversation in your own head. A small distortion. A suggestion that maybe you should decide for yourself what is good. Reflecting on that forced me to look honestly at some of the ways sin has crept into my own life over the years, especially around lust and the pursuit of things that promise power or escape but leave shame and emptiness behind. But even in that same story of the fall, there’s also the first promise. The curse enters the world, but God immediately speaks a promise of redemption. That pattern runs through the rest of Scripture. The passages about Abraham in Genesis 12 and 15 also stuck with me. God makes a promise, and Abram sets out without fully knowing how it will unfold. It made me think about what it actually means to trust God. I’m not sure any of us ever reach a point where we can say we’ve perfectly handed over all our fears, anxieties, and need for control. That seems more like a lifelong practice. But one thing Scripture shows again and again is that even if our faith wavers, God’s faithfulness does not. He makes promises, and He keeps them. The Tower of Babel also hit close to home. It’s easy to look at that story and think about ancient people building a tower, but it’s not that different from the ways we try to build our own security today. Careers, status, wealth, control over our circumstances. None of those things are bad in themselves, but they can quietly become the towers we rely on instead of God. One thing I’m noticing through this section of the Crucible is how often Scripture holds these tensions together: human failure and divine faithfulness. The curse and the promise. Our tendency to grasp for control and God’s invitation to trust Him. Curious what has been standing out to the rest of you going through Days 15–21.

My heart feels very tender before God right now. The messages, reflections, and conversations coming out of the Crucible have meant a lot to read. It’s clear God is moving in the lives of many of you, and I’m grateful to be walking through this together. Right now there are about 130 men across 5 continents going through the Crucible. Next week we’re recording a Forge Tribe Podcast episode with Pete Stone (who wrote the devotionals) and John Thompson (who’s been writing the newsletters). Instead of us just talking, we want to bring your questions into the conversation. If you’re going through the Crucible, send us what’s on your mind: • Reflections from the readings • Things that challenged you • Parts that confused you • Where you're wrestling to apply it in real life • Anything you'd like Pete and John to unpack further You can post your question here on the wall or DM me directly if you'd rather keep it private. We’ll work to get as many of the questions answered as we can in the podcast. And yes… this was John’s last cinnamon roll before the Crucible. A small but meaningful sacrifice for the cause. — Joe

Day 1. Before the week gets busy and life starts pulling at you, take a minute to post a short video to the community wall. Nothing polished. Just honest. Share: - How you’re feeling starting today - Why you decided to do this - What you’re hoping changes over the next 90 days It doesn’t need to be long: 60–90 seconds is plenty. There’s something powerful about saying it out loud. It makes it real. It also helps the rest of us know who we’re walking alongside. If you’re a little uncomfortable posting, that’s probably a good sign. Lean into it. Go ahead and record it now.