8 weeks. So long. So short.
Last fall several key people in my life began to have crucial conversations with me…
“Something seems off…”
“Where is your passion?”
“What do you see happening at church in the next 6-12 months?”
“Are you ‘burnt out’?”
It was hard to hear. I worked hard over the last several years on myself and being a husband/dad. I spent hours thinking, praying, talking, reading, etc. During that time people said to me, “Your church may have to adjust to the new you.” It never happened. I never had someone say, “You have changed, what is going on.”
I should have noticed, but I was smack dab in the middle of it.
There was something off, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I tried working remotely (coffee shops, Taylor University, home). I prayed more. I read different books and then nothing at all. I even tried to change the clothes I was wearing. Yes, I was desperate.
All the “doing” only made things worse.
Speaking for God the prophet Isaiah tells us:
This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says:
“In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength,
but you would have none of it.” Isaiah 30:15
and later:
“Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you;
therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.
For the LORD is a God of justice.
Blessed are all who wait for him!” Isaiah 30:18
Salvation through rest? Come on! I was raised, you were raised, to believe the harder we push the more we will achieve, the happier we will all be.
Except in God’s Economy things don’t work that way. I needed to slow way down. I needed to find that low gear. I did.
This is just a piece of what I heard when I got quiet enough to listen. For those of you interested, I will share a bit more this Sunday (July 31). And as I open my journal I am sure I will share more here.
First, though a question: What have you heard or learned in the past 8 weeks? It should not be possible for us to go two months without drawing closer to God, without being silent long enough to hear him.