Day 32
It's Day 32 and I'm back. I've been on vacation the last week in Reheboth Beach, Deleware. There is nothing like "gettting away" to renew perspective. It is admittedly hard for me to leave things behind, but I made a conscientious decision not to check email or the stock market while I was away.
It took me a few days to "decompress" from the pressures of life and ministry. I always seem to have three or four things "weighing on me" emotionally--such is life. I kept thinking about them, but I had to make a decision to let go or not worry about them on multiple occasions. I don't find it easy to "compartmentalize" emotionally. I don't "turn off" and "turn on" on que.
Sometimes it takes me days to really get something "out of my system." It's almost like the "common cold." It's got to run its course. That's how it is with emotional "viruses" or "colds" that I catch.
Books
One of the highlights of the trip was getting a chance to read some books. I read a Neil Armstrong biography titled One Giant Leap. I finished Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala. I read an interesting book titled The Witness Carol by George John DeTellis. I read a follow-up to a book that really intrigued by a few years ago (The Celestine Prophecy) titled The Secret of Shambhala. I actually enjoy reading books that are a little "off" theologically. I find they stretch me and help me think in different categories. I just read them "defensively." This book really falls into that category. I read Reversing Thrust by Carl Hershey. I read a compilation of Peter Marshall sermons titled Mr. Jones Meet the Master. And finally, I read a fascinating book titled Driving Mr. Albert.
One of the defining moments of my life happened as a senior in College. Besides required textbooks and the Bible, I'd probably read fewer than a hundred books in my life. I picked up a seven hundred page biography of Albert Einstein on one of our basketball road trips and something snapped in me. I read more books in the next year than my previous twenty-two years of life! Since that time I've read an average of 150-200 books a year. My reading has lessened in recent years because of increasing demands of a growing church, but I became a voracious reader my Senior Year in College and that has never changed. I developed an insatiable appetite for reading. I actually asked for books for my birthday during Seminary! I became interested in just about anything and everything.
It takes the average author two years to write a book--some more and some less. But that means that if I read 150 books I'm getting 300 years of life experience! I can learn 300 years worth of lessons in a single year!
Cycles
I've always believed in the importance of rhythm. God was intentional in giving us night and day--a 24 hour cycle. He gave a seven-day cycle called a week. He created seasons--a three month cycle. We have biological cycles--a circadian rhythm. There is a religious rhythm in the Old Tesatment.
I just spent a week at the beach and there is a rhythm called high tide and low tide. I think one key to spirituality is managing those rhythms. We've got to embrace the ebbs and flows. Most of us resist the ebbs, but that makes as much sense as trying to alter an ocean tide. We've got to ride the waves--high or low, in or out.
This forty days of prayer and fasting has been fantastic, but there is still high tide and low tide. That rhythm never goes away. I still get down, but my down isn't quite as low as it was and it doesn't last quite as long. I'm not naive: maturity doesn't equal immunity. But I think we can have a higher threshold of tolerance for trouble. We learn Paul's secret of being content.
If our emotional state is determined by external factors--relationships, stocks, job ratings, favorite football team--you're bound to ride an emotional roller coaster. But if our emotional state is determined by our relationship with God we're unshakable.
It took me a few days to "decompress" from the pressures of life and ministry. I always seem to have three or four things "weighing on me" emotionally--such is life. I kept thinking about them, but I had to make a decision to let go or not worry about them on multiple occasions. I don't find it easy to "compartmentalize" emotionally. I don't "turn off" and "turn on" on que.
Sometimes it takes me days to really get something "out of my system." It's almost like the "common cold." It's got to run its course. That's how it is with emotional "viruses" or "colds" that I catch.
Books
One of the highlights of the trip was getting a chance to read some books. I read a Neil Armstrong biography titled One Giant Leap. I finished Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala. I read an interesting book titled The Witness Carol by George John DeTellis. I read a follow-up to a book that really intrigued by a few years ago (The Celestine Prophecy) titled The Secret of Shambhala. I actually enjoy reading books that are a little "off" theologically. I find they stretch me and help me think in different categories. I just read them "defensively." This book really falls into that category. I read Reversing Thrust by Carl Hershey. I read a compilation of Peter Marshall sermons titled Mr. Jones Meet the Master. And finally, I read a fascinating book titled Driving Mr. Albert.
One of the defining moments of my life happened as a senior in College. Besides required textbooks and the Bible, I'd probably read fewer than a hundred books in my life. I picked up a seven hundred page biography of Albert Einstein on one of our basketball road trips and something snapped in me. I read more books in the next year than my previous twenty-two years of life! Since that time I've read an average of 150-200 books a year. My reading has lessened in recent years because of increasing demands of a growing church, but I became a voracious reader my Senior Year in College and that has never changed. I developed an insatiable appetite for reading. I actually asked for books for my birthday during Seminary! I became interested in just about anything and everything.
It takes the average author two years to write a book--some more and some less. But that means that if I read 150 books I'm getting 300 years of life experience! I can learn 300 years worth of lessons in a single year!
Cycles
I've always believed in the importance of rhythm. God was intentional in giving us night and day--a 24 hour cycle. He gave a seven-day cycle called a week. He created seasons--a three month cycle. We have biological cycles--a circadian rhythm. There is a religious rhythm in the Old Tesatment.
I just spent a week at the beach and there is a rhythm called high tide and low tide. I think one key to spirituality is managing those rhythms. We've got to embrace the ebbs and flows. Most of us resist the ebbs, but that makes as much sense as trying to alter an ocean tide. We've got to ride the waves--high or low, in or out.
This forty days of prayer and fasting has been fantastic, but there is still high tide and low tide. That rhythm never goes away. I still get down, but my down isn't quite as low as it was and it doesn't last quite as long. I'm not naive: maturity doesn't equal immunity. But I think we can have a higher threshold of tolerance for trouble. We learn Paul's secret of being content.
If our emotional state is determined by external factors--relationships, stocks, job ratings, favorite football team--you're bound to ride an emotional roller coaster. But if our emotional state is determined by our relationship with God we're unshakable.
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