Dangerous Things Don't Always Happen At High Speeds

There is no need to be in a hurry. Just stop your surfing and mousing. Take one minute and catch your breath. Seriously, slow down...oh, sorry, I was just talking to myself. Does your life feel a bit hectic too? I've noticed that somehow, all the things that were supposed to help us get control of our lives and time, seem to create more craziness and busyness.

I think that is why books can be such a good companion - they slow down the pace.

While there are classics in literature, for each of us, I imagine there are classics in our own libraries. There are a handful of books I go back to again and again. Time has yet to turn them into timeless but they came to each of us at a time we needed them and the words resonated. One of those books for me is a book entitled Dangerous Wonder by Mike Yaconelli. Mike wrote that...

...In many Christian environments, we are told that God wants to give us what we need and want immediately. If you have to wait for God's blessing, these people say, you are doing something wrong because God would never want you to wait for anything. Add to this quick-fix gospel the notion that waiting is a waste of time and you have the foundation laid for churches full of impatient, demanding Christians who want and expect God to meet their every "need" now. Trouble is, God doesn't work that way. (pg 88)

Recently, I've been feeling the "pressures" of being a new church pastor. You set certain benchmarks along the way and read and consult with many. Expectations are set by others, rightly or wrongly, about the measure of success. My spirit and heart has been out of sorts for a while now with all this and Mike's words were like cool refreshing water after a hard, climb loaded with heavy gear.

Mike's words put me in that "slow-motion" frame like the Six Million Dollar Man, going slow but still out pacing everything around me. You see, I had no asparation of being a new church pastor anymore than I had of being a pastor back in the summer of 2003. There was no promise I'd even start a church when I became a probationary Elder in the UMC in 2004.

I thought I'd learned patience in the days and months and years leading up to this fall. I guess not. You'd think 7 months from launch and I would have some ability to plug back into a well of patience of five years of waiting...not. God does not work that way. God doesn't work our way at all.

My wife passed on a devotion from Elisabeth Elliot this week (freebie: Guys, you should always read things your wife gives you). It read...

"Let us recall that the task is a divinely appointed one, and divine aid is therefore to be expected. Expect it! Ask for it, wait for it, believe that God gives it. Offer to Him the job itself, along with your fears and misgivings about it. He will not fail or be discouraged. Let his courage encourage you. The day will come when the task will be finished. Trust Him for it."

When you go with God, dangerous things don't happen at high speeds but at slow ones. Maybe that is why we keep missing out on the miraculous.

But the Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame. (Isaiah 50:7 ESV)


May I Ask: What helps you the most to slow down and connect with God?

May I Suggest: When you actually do hear from God, don't rush past the moment. Be still and listen. Savor the moment.