On Wednesday, I made a big announcement about this summer’s Bible study. After prayer and reflection and outstanding feedback from you, I felt led to develop Overcomer: A 4-Week Study of Philippians.
Overcomer divides Philippians into 20 readings. Each one invites you to use The Color Method to study the Scripture alongside a devotional and 7 Reflection Questions for personal and small group study.
Our precious designer sent us the cover at 7:30pm on Tuesday night. Our team scrambled until midnight scheduling the announcement, posting sample pages, and loading the product into our store.
The announcement went out at 4am.
When I awoke at 6:52am, I knew something was wrong. We’d sold out of Beloved quick. Yet in the first three hours, not one person had placed one order for Overcomer.
That seemed like an odd silence to the big announcement.
We soon discovered that in that midnight hour, we failed to provide a buy button on the product page.
Complaints flooded into our live chat, inboxes, and blog comments.
I’m scurried to wake up my team for help.
That’s when one comment caught my attention.
“Why should I study Philippians from you when you can’t even spell it?”
Oh, dear, Jesus, what have we done?
And that’s when I saw it:
Yeppers. We put the Phill in Phillipians.
No. Words.
Now the beauty of this embarrassment is how quickly our team rallied. The designer sent over a corrected cover. Sorry Phill, you’re back to Phil.
Maegan, Jessica, Liz, and I worked hard to address everyone’s concerns. In less than two hours, all was resolved.
But I couldn’t miss the irony.
I released a study called Overcomer and the first hours were spent overcoming a huge mistake.
I suspect God chuckled as I embodied the message.
I don’t want to give away too much from the study; we’ll begin the Philippians party on June 17.
The message of overcoming is woven deep into this book of the Bible
Paul feels forgotten in prison. He pours his life and passion and knowledge of Christ into the lives of many, but now sits in eerie silence.
Word arrives at the church in Philippi of Paul’s precarious situation.
How did we not know? How did we not pay closer attention? How did we drop the ball on caring for the one who has cared for us?
The church doesn’t allow their oopsie of being unaware of Paul’s needs to set them back. Instead, they lunge forward with grace and peace. They send one of their own, Epaphroditus, to make the 40-plus day trek to visit the weary apostle and refresh his soul.
Sometimes we make mistakes because of what we do, or leave undone (like extra proofing).
Throughout Philippians, we’ll discover it’s not the mistakes you made but how you overcome.
Where in your life do you need to stop straining your neck to a past mistake and live wide-eyed to a hope-filled future?
Where in your life do you need to stop allowing your shortcomings to define you?
When it comes to overcoming where does God most want to refine you?
I hope you’ll join me on June 17 for Overcomer: A 4-Week Study in Philippians. I’ll be on Facebook Live each week to accompany the study.
And in case you were wondering, here’s what the revised cover looks like:
Okay, tell me I’m not alone. What is the best oopsie moment you had this week?
I will try again.? When something doesn’t work in the computer world, I generally assume that my own difficulties are at the root. So glad no one else found that “Buy” button either.
like non of us have made a mistake , hahaha, we are there with you !!!! can’t wait to study again with you !
It’s funny as I did find the buy button. All worked out well for me. I was so asleep, I didn’t see the oppsie at all!?
Let your gentleness be evident to all. Phil 4:5
Thank you for your shining example – can’t wait to study Philippians with you! ?
Haha! Thanks for the laugh this morning 🙂
May God bless you and your team 🙂
So excited for this study! When I couldn’t get it I thought I had missed out – but it was a real JOY BOMB when I found out that it was available!! Thanks for your humble and open spirit. I recently got everything ready for Bible study – all set and ready to see the ladies come – and I was a day early!!! Oops!!
And this is why I love you☺.
I’m so amazed at how you can take nasty comments and mistakes and turn them into a lesson, which gives God the Glory. Have to say, that wouldn’t have been my reaction; therefore, I immediately ordered the study. ? looking forward to seeing you in August in Lowell, MA!
If you were any more precious, I’d pop! I swear mistakes like this just make you more endearing. ❤️?
I was amazed that it had sold out so quickly! I’m happy to know I can still get a copy 🙂 My biggest oopsie was really big… Our kids’ school auction was Saturday. As our volunteers began to set out the silent auction items on Friday we realized we had failed to give them catalog numbers when we logged in all the donations. We spent the rest of the day cataloging and tagging over 400 items… That was a tough day but we managed to have extra grace for one another in spite of it all. And the auction turned out fabulously!
I could write a book on oopsies! 😉 I have prepared many webinar slides that were proofed by many and still errors slip by. I love that you are gentle with yourself and don’t take the “meanies” too seriously. Your oopsie is the biggest reason I want to join in this study.
When my kids attended a small Christian school, one of the main fundraisers was the Spring Jog-a-thon. The kids would find sponsors to support them as they ran laps around the field, all in their matching t-shirts. One year, those matching t-shirts proudly quoted “Phillipians 4:13” — yes, misspelled the same way you did! 🙂 At least your snafu could be quickly corrected. Somewhere in the world there are still 400 t-shirts boasting our school name and an incorrectly spelled book of the Bible.
Philippians 1:18 insert the word “spellings” for motives ?
Oh no! Glad we can laugh about this together!
Mine last week (and by the way there is usually one every day) was while taking my car to the dealer for a recall. I was following my husband and I had put the dealership in my GPS. Well when we were upon arrival, he turned left and I turned right. I called him and said why did you turn into the Honda dealership (I was at Toyota)? He said because you have a Honda Civic? Oooops, he is the one with the Toyota….
I was in a rush and trying to fill up my gas tank. Couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t working. Then I realized I had the diesel nossel. Sometimes you just have to acknowledge you have egg on your face!
Sent a report to my boss last week and a large section of the report was last year’s data. I was so focused on getting my explanation right I didn’t pay attention to the date of the reports. He was kind but I felt like an idiot. How did I miss that? Thank you so much for sharing you are so beautiful. Can’t wait for the bible study. BTW, I had no problems ordering even have the confirmation email to prove it so I’m good.
First of all, beautiful display of composure and forgiveness of “yourself” for the honest mistake. I love the way you keep things real, Margaret. And I am nodding in agreement as to how God seems to always stir up scenarios for us to put into practice the message He asks us to share with others. I wrote a blog post on patience last week, meanwhile in the midst of writing the article I had zero patience while dealing with techy issues. Then, after publishing the Divine message, just about anything and everything sent me into a tizzy for the next 24 hours. I finally laughed out loud, thanking God for once again pointing out my responsibility to walk the talk. He’s so ‘phill’anthropic that way…
I’m glad the mistake was caught, but you think it could’ve been told to you in a nicer way. Heck, I never spell resurrection right unless I’m on my phone or computer. I think I spell it wrong every Easter service while writing sermon notes 🙂
No worries Margaret. We all do things like that. 🙂 God does give us the most interesting things to make us laugh. Blessings to you and your hubby. 🙂
I love this. It makes us feel we are not alone! My (pastor) husband created a flyer for a women’s event for me once and since it was April Fool’s Day he sent me the proof and it said we would be drinking beer, getting tatoos etc for the women’s event for our church. We laughed until we picked up the flyers from the printer realizing my husband sent the April Fools copy to the printer instead of the real one. 🙂
I would love a copy of that flyer! Too funny!
It is a good to learn to laugh at ourselves – it is work of God to humble us and “offend-proof” us.
Thanks for sharing your oops!
One year my sister Kim was making Vacation Bible School tee shirts for our young sons. I don’t recall how many she had completed before she realized she had misspelled Phillipians… er, Philippians! You’re in great company with my darling younger sister!! <3
I don’t have these mistakes..because I’m not getting out there.. I’m not trying as I should to be the salt and light for this world. I am, however, being surrounded by this message that if we’re not failing or making mistakes, we’re not trying. SO, you’re vulnerability is helping me get out from my ‘safe’ corner and get moving on what the Lord is calling me to do. THANK YOU, Margaret!!!
Did you mean “I scurried”or “I’m scurried”?
Really Susanne? You knew what she meant. A private email would have been a kind gesture.
Theres a huge part of me though that wants to say, Couldn’t that have been said just a tad bit nicer? But, I feel you! We all make mistakes! Glad u caught it! I sure didn’t.
This is my first time commenting on an online blog so here it goes; I am in advertising sales for a local home magazine and I phoned my prospect to tell her what my boss told me after her and I spoke on the phone. “l like you and I want to help you and Kilbourne sell condos and rent apartments and we will match the other magazine’s rate”. When I hung up the phone, I just wanted to dig a big hole and put my head into it. What I should have expressed is that I admire you, I respect you, and I sympathize with you. (Not I like you.)
No matter how you say it or spell it Philippians is a great book worth studying. What Joy. And to the sweet soul who asked the question I they should do this study with you when you can’t even spell the book, might a suggest she study the word “Grace”.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10″But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. That is why for Christ’s sake I delight in weakness, in insults, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” God is going to do powerful things through this study.
Keep on taking delight in the “Oopses of life” my friend.
Hugs
Yes I too have an oops in reply. ???
Earlier today, the precious Holy Spirit gently reminded me of an “oops” i made yesterday. Now, through this blog post, these replies, and the truth of this Scripture, God has sweetly and tenderly reminded me of His grace for us all. i am so humbled, so grateful …
Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:13-14 NIV
http://bible.com/111/php.3.13-14.NIV
How i agree with you, Sandra – God has already done and is even now doing great things through this Bible study … Hallelujah!!! Amen.
I couldn’t not share on this thread…
Today I took my oldest (5) to school & dropped her off, confirming with the teacher that I’d pick her up late today (she stays & works on a few extra projects for a bit after her 3 hour class). Then I proceeded to run an errand and take my younger 2 to their checkups. As I was walking the kids into the doctor, I read a text from my daughter’s teacher that today is when they were taking pictures of the “graduating” preschoolers (including my daughter), so she needed a specific shirt (which I didn’t provide, since I hadn’t marked this event on my calendar – oops!). The teacher also wanted to know whether they could take my 3yo son’s photo since he started school on Friday & they need his photo for the school badges.
So, at least that last bit wasn’t really my fault – it was sprung on me that my son needed to be back, but here’s where the good part comes in.
Yesterday we were at a playdate with some good friends; all of the kids had face tattoos from an event they had attended, so we applied them. The girls were princesses, with a crown on their foreheads, jewels on their noses and beside their eyes, and sweet decorations on their cheeks. The boys were superheroes, with lightning bolts on their foreheads and beside their eyes, and Captain America-ish décor above their eyebrows and on their cheeks.
I decided to leave these tattoos on for school/doctor appointments today.
There was no way for me to get the shirt to my daughter, but thankfully my husband was able to take his lunch break early and get it to her; he also spent quite a bit of time scrubbing at her face to remove the tattoos for the pictures. He got all but the crown, so the teachers put her graduation cap low on her forehead to cover it. It looks…well, a bit silly…but it’ll do.
The doctors were running late (of course!), so the photographer had to wait for us, but we did get my son’s photos taken as well. He was in full superhero splendor.
It is only by God’s grace that I was in such good humor during this entire crazy morning…it is now one of the most hilarious events in my recent history 😉 I don’t think the humor comes through quite as well as I had intended, but my brain is telling me I need to go to bed, so rather than re-write, I think I’ll obey 😉
The humor comes through. What a joy to read your comment. This is the day the Lord has made ….. thanks for sharing. I’m still smiling.