A A B C Dying to LiveA Retreat Companion

Today

Be still, and know.

Orientation · Open to all

The triangle, reversed.

The Basic Building Block of every relationship, and the way the Father turns it over. From the self that wants what it wants, through the collapse of keeping score, to the cross the Father reversed — and the new life that can stand at your spouse’s C. A → B → C → A.

Listen — guided by Dr. Michael G. Semon 0:00 / 6:30
Placeholder timeline — final audio will be Dr. Semon’s recorded narration.
A

A — where we begin: I want what I want

James 4:1–2 · ESV

1What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.

The undifferentiated self wants what it wants when it wants it. Its creed is simple: as long as you meet my wants and needs, you love me — and if you don’t, you must not love me. That self-deception leaves no room for you to be different, or to disagree, and stay connected to me at the same time.

Name your wants and needs (demands) underneath it — where do you measure your spouse’s love by whether they are met?
B

B — the position everyone wants

Philippians 2:3–4 · ESV

3Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

B is the position of priority, value, and importance. Everyone wants to be at B in another person’s life. So I keep you at B and you keep me at B, and we begin our life together — but it soon falls apart. I start comparing how much I’m doing for you with how little you’re doing for me, and that’s not fair. And we both avoid C, because C is where our wants and needs go unmet.

What is the tally you keep — “how much I do” against “how little they do”? Write the ledger you would never say out loud.
C

The reversal — the Father’s plan

2 Corinthians 5:21 · ESV

21For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

The believer’s relationship is categorically different. The Father at A, Jesus at B, humankind at C — the triangle turned over. Jesus releases His B position with the Father for the pain of the cross at C, becoming sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God at the Father’s B position. He endured the cross for the joy set before Him (Hebrews 12:2), to be restored to the right hand of the Father.

Sit still with this before you write: your place at the Father’s B was bought by Jesus taking your C. What rises in you as you receive it?
A

A — raised to live at your spouse’s C

Matthew 16:25 · ESV

25For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Now you stand at A — new life in Christ — empowered by Jesus’ life, death, burial, and resurrection to live at your spouse’s C. You die on the cross of your anxiety at C and find life in Christ: celebrating them, regulating yourself, for the joy set before you — to bring glory and honor to the Father and reveal the all-surpassing power of the resurrection. The world clings to B and loses its life. You embrace C, and you find it.

Where is your spouse’s C this week — a need of theirs you could meet without keeping score? Name one, and the joy set before you in it.

The Seven Deaths · the descent from B to C

The way up is down. You leave B — the place of significance you crave — and descend through seven deaths to C, the cross, where your wants die. Then, in God’s timing, you rise to the new A. Be Still is open to all; the rest open with partnership.

What He Speaks

Journal His voice.

Write what you heard. It stays private, on this device — nothing is sent anywhere.

Saved.

Earlier entries

Open to all · Hebrews 12:1

A Cloud of Witnesses.

Not a highlight reel — a gathering of deaths. Here believers tell where they died to themselves at their spouse’s C, and what rose. No likes. No counts. The only response is to witness.

Sowing Into the Work

The door is open. The giving is invited.

Scripture and the journal are free, always — no one pays to hear His voice. Partnership carries the cost of the deeper journeys and covers a place for those who cannot give.

The Open Door
Free
For everyone, always
  • The full Scripture reader
  • Unlimited private journaling
  • A daily passage and reflection
  • Journey One, start to finish
Partner
$49 / year
or $6 / month · billed as partnership, not premium
  • All seven guided journeys — the full path
  • The Paradox-framed study companion (Ask, Seek, Knock)
  • Saved multi-day retreats
  • Export and print your journals
  • The founding-partner mark
Sustaining Partner — optional

$100, or name your gift above.

Where “dying to live” becomes literal: your giving quietly funds free access for someone who cannot pay.

PROTOTYPE — read me: Journaling and any witness you offer save only in this browser (no login yet); live, every witness would be read by a person before it appears. The Journey audio player and the voice-witness recorder are prototype placeholders — no audio is captured or played yet. The seven deaths use your book-canon “death of ___” taglines; the guided teaching for deaths two–seven would draw from your books and opens with partnership. The “Where are you?” placement is your published REACTION ten-question short-form; the email step posts to GoHighLevel and tags the contact assessment-optin once you paste your webhook into GHL_ENDPOINT — matching your existing opt-in and results sequence. Prices ($49 / $6 / $100) are the recommendation, not final. “Become a Partner” is a stub — no real checkout is wired.