I always want to do things so fast.
When I was a kid, I wanted to be an adult (so I could stay out and play longer)
When I was in high school, I wanted to be in college (where I could be free)
When I was in college, I wanted to graduate (so I wouldn’t have any more homework)
When I was single, I wanted to be married
Now that I’m married, I often want to be single (for various reasons, sometimes sinful, other times for the freedom from responsibility)
I couldn’t wait to get my first job as youth pastor, then left a year and a half later
Church planting is my dream job and I have a great church that I love, yet most days I want to quit out of exhaustion and unmet expectations
Things are great at my church, in my family, and in my personal life, yet at the age of 30, I wonder “what could be?” much more than I wonder “what is, and how sweet it is”
I was born in 1983 and in my 30 years of life, there haven’t been many times I’ve been able to simply stop and smell the proverbial roses, and simply enjoy them. Enjoy the things I have strived for and now accomplished, rather than yet again building bigger and loftier goals and not being satisfied until I meet them.
And once I meet them, not being satisfied until I meet the next ones.
And again not being satisfied until…
Like every day is a midlife crisis.
Meanwhile God takes 25 years to answer his promise to Abraham that he and Sarah would have a son (at the ages of 100 and 90)
God puts Moses in the wilderness 40 years before calling him to lead his people out of slavery.
Of which they’d been enslaved 400 years.
Then have to roam in the wilderness 40 years before entering the Promised Land.
Where they were eventually exiled for 70 years in Babylon.
And God waited 400 years between the last prophet (the end of the Old Testament) and the next one (beginning of the New Testament).
Jesus lives 30 years as a regular guy before beginning his ministry.
God is not in nearly as big of a hurry as I am.
And God doesn’t think I’m nearly as essential to the salvation of this planet as I must think I am.
Or that the chasing of my tail in hopes of finally feeling important is a worthy pursuit.
His message to me hasn’t changed.
But it’s hard to hear the still small voice when you never slow the car down.
As long as the top is spinning, you can never read what it is written on it.
Matt. 11:28-30 (Jesus speaking) “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Philippians 4: 11-13 for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him (Jesus) who gives me strength. (parentheses added)
Psalm 103:2 Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
He is:
Author of Beyond the Battle: A man's guide to his identity in Christ in an oversexualized world
Host of the The Flip Side Podcast
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