The Unimaginable
You may think I am being over dramatic, but try to understand.
Johnny Cash.
My wife and I married in August 2005. We were gearing up for our first Christmas together when my wife informed me she bought my gift and wanted to give it to me. I was facing a dilemma. Of course I wanted the gift, but would that ruin the surprise? All things considered, I decided delayed gratification might not be worth it in this case.
Before my eyes, a shiny, black, first generation iPod Nano.
I named him Johnny Cash.
Johnny and I quickly became friends. I put music on him, I used the Nike+ iPod kit with him (we logged like 300 miles together before the battery in the Nike+ died), listened to hundreds of podcasts together.
Unlike other iPods, Johnny never lost substantial amounts of batter life. He was rated at 8 hours and I can still get 5-6 hours out of him today before he needs a recharge.
There is just one problem.
Johnny has stopped making noises of any kind. Today, on my way to work, I was listening to a pod cast when suddenly all was quiet. I could only hear the noise of my tires on the pavement. I looked down, my podcast was still ticking away on the timer. The screen was still dull. I picked up Johnny, sure enough, the progress bar was still moving forward.
At the next red light, I put a pair of headphones in and pressed play.
Nothing.
I rebooted Johnny.
Nothing.
I reset Johnny.
Nothing.
I don’t want to face the possibilities that Johnny may be dead. I am going through denial right now.
This could be a long weekend.
-Don-
Growing Expectations
We all have them. Most of the time, mine are wrong.
Two weeks ago I started talking to our church plant about the directions we are heading and how this would demand sacrifice and reaching out beyond ourselves. I talked to them about small group planting, checking out other churches, and the dreaded “F” word; finances.
I expected an empty living room last night.
I mean, come on, the people in this church plant are busy. How could I ask even MORE from them? It was as if I was saying (and I guess I was) “join me in being bi-vocational.” People showed up last night, so I made it even harder on them. I informed them of our plans to slow it down and make sure every detail we could possibly conceive of was done right. We have been planting for while, and we have only made a little headway. We still had a lot of work ahead of us.
This time for sure they would be burnt out and frustrated.
Wrong again. One woman started talking to me about child care and children’s ministry. Another guy joined her and started to philosophize about the best way to explain the Gospel to kids ages 7 and up. My web designer started to think on the next level and even told me he has been looking into cheap ESV bibles we could use in evangelism. The husband of the childcare lady was asking about the best way to organize finances. My sister-in-law gave us an update on a church that was supporting us.
These people are catching on fire!
I believe I was wrong and I apologized. I sold my people short. They want to see this church happen. They want to do things to make it happen. The only problem was the leader. Me. I was not leading them anywhere or giving them any tasks. Meanwhile, they were chomping at the bit. Sometimes our expectations of people are really high.
I think most times, they are too low.
-Don-
Slower
Churches do not just spring up overnight.
We want things done FAST. Seriously, when is the last time you bought a microwavable product and panicked because it took more than five minutes to cook? What about waiting to make a right hand turn on red only to discover there is a sign telling you not too? How many people out there have high speed Internet?
Churches want to go fast too
Many people are not willing to sit around and wait on a church to do something. We want action now. If a church does not respond fast enough to controversy, we get impatient and start pointing fingers or drawing (inaccurate, often) conclusions. When a church does not plant itself and open its doors fast enough, people stop coming along for the journey.
While planting Church of the Broken, I have come to one conclusion, we are going too fast. I did not come to this conclusion alone, mind you. I have had a lot of help from other people to point this out.
But we need to plant NOW!
The only people telling me I need to open the doors to Sunday sermons is myself. I keep telling myself we have to get everything done faster than we really need to. Let me put this in perspective; I had plans to launch a church in the next 5 months. I was ready for Sunday morning. Someone asked me, "what do you plan to do for a child care?"
My brain came to a crashing halt. I had no idea.
I want to do it right.
And doing it right means I have to slow it down a bit so I can intentionally think through every single piece of this plant.
Thankfully I have wise people in my life to help me see this.
-Don-
Spiritual Disciplines: Sabbath
This week I am looking at five exercises to help strengthen your life as a follower of Jesus. I am going to combine these posts with my Bible study series into a short e-book which will be free for download. You can read the first and second installments here: Fasting, Prayer, Silence, Meditating, Fellowship.
God takes resting seriously. He takes it so seriously that he modeled it (Gen. 2:2) and he commanded it (Exodus 20:8). Many of us think we have no time to rest. It is not until we see the God of the Universe (the busiest being in all of existence) rest that we realize we can rest.
Why should I rest?
Aside from the above reasons (God said so), we have to take a break for health reasons. I told you all before I was having some issues with stress. It was not until I took a (forced) Sabbath I was able to relax and lift some of the weight off my chest. What is funny is, I found myself more productive as a result. We need to rest for health reasons.
A bigger reason is; we need to rest to prove we are not, and cannot be, God. Many of us believe the world will fall apart if we do not take a break. We think if we stop our frantic pace, things will fall apart or never be completed. Many of us think the world keeps turning because we are in control of its rotation. We are not. We will find the world may actually operate much smoother if we let God control it.
How do I rest?
This may sound like a dumb question, but just stop. According to a book I am reading (review coming soon), men can “shut off” brain activity faster than women can. So for men, taking a break may be easier. Ladies, you may have to try harder.
The best way to rest will be to plan for it. Mark a date on your calendar when you are off work. Plan easy meals (cereal is my favorite, microwave pizza, sandwiches, whatever), and plan a relaxing activity (reading a book, playing with the kids, going to a park). Then, stick to your plans. Turn off your cell phone, unplug the internet, throw a brick through the TV.
While resting, lean into God. Worship Him and recognize Him as sovereign and in control. Find activities that help you worship Him and submit humbly to Him.
Trust me, this discipline is seldom practiced, but highly worth it.
-Don-
