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Drained – So What?

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drained

It’s been quite a few weeks for me.  You might remember back at the start of July, coming off the heels of vacation, I led our congregation in a Day of Prayer, which was simply my confession as one at a dry place and what I needed to do in that moment.

Last week, I was privileged to serve my family as my uncle passed away in Tyler, TX.  I left Sunday after church and drove to Tyler, helped with the service on Monday and led a graveside service in Shreveport, LA, then returned midweek.  On Saturday, my brother-in-law got married in Hutch.  My amazing wife and her mom were responsible for making all the flowers for this, which meant that I needed to help on the home front.  Stay at home moms have a much more difficult job than they get credit for.

After a full day on ministry Sunday (I’m currently serving our adults by teaching a Sunday School class where all our adults are together, giving teachers a break for the summer, plus my Sunday AM sermon, plus Small Groups), I was drained.

Monday I recharged by jumping into lots of administrative tasks and an Elders Meeting.  Today, I’m tired. Drained.  I feel the need in my soul to recharge.

What do you do in these moments?  How do you recharge?

Well, for me, the big priority is attending to my soul.  I haven’t been happy in God like I usually am.  And, my frustration has been because I haven’t been served (not very noble, right?).  So, today, I’m spending time the Psalms.  Praying some prayers in Valley of Vision.  Checking in on my soul.  I find God’s Word refreshing and life-giving.  In fact, I need God to come near to me through His Word.  So, the drain is slowly getting recharged.

I know many of you probably deal with more difficulties that I mention here.  But, I think the remedy is probably the same.  Attend to your soul.  Take some time and allow God to recharge you.  And, as you pursue this, I’d appreciate your prayers as I continue to recharge.

Solitude

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Today, as you read this, I’m enjoying some silence and solitude at a cabin here in Hutchinson.  I’m blessed to have good friends.  When I secured this location, he told me, “Now there’s no wifi there.”  I said, “Terrific! That’s exactly what I’m looking for.”  

There’s a rhythm to life that God established back in creation.  After creating the world, on the 6th day, He rested.  I’ve noticed over the past few years in ministry (and a family with young kids), but finding times of spiritual retreat are difficult.  I spoke with some leaders at Crestview about this and consulted with Meg and my hope is that this year, I will be able to spend some time once a month doing some good soul work.
So, what is a time of silence and solitude about?  I found Bob Thune’s post helpful (and I’ve been helped immensely by Don Whitney’s chapter in Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life).  Bob writes that this is a time to: 1) Look Inward, 2) Look Upward, 3) Look Backward, and 4) Look Forward.  The inward component gets at spiritual diagnosis of my own heart, the best I can.  The upward component reminds me it’s about God, not me.  Backward traces God’s hand in recent days while Forward hints at where I’m headed, if God wills.  
I plan to do some meditation mapping, review some questions from Whitney (these), tips from Buzzard, and Driscoll.  Whitney also has a helpful suggested schedule for four consecutive hours of silence and solitude.  
Now, having read all that, will you pray that God would use this time to restore my soul?  Thanks for reading. 

Couple of Things From Elder’s Retreat…

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As you may know, I am away on an Elder’s Retreat with our church’s leadership.  We have a great time together and have spent all day praying, planning and seeking how God would particularly like us to move.  We also have fun.

Here’s a video of a place we ate at last night, which was excellent:

This morning, we got rolling by working through this recent article entitled Progress In the Christian Life from the latest Life Action Revive Magazine.  Two prayers, in particular, stood out to us as we began our journey today.

George Whitefield: 
“God, give me a deep humility and a burning love, a well-guided zeal and a single eye, and then let men and devils do their worst!”


And a prayer at the end: 
“O Lord Jesus, make me happy enough in you to avoid sin, and wise enough in you to avoid danger, that I may always do what is right in your sight. In your name I pray, amen.”


We have had a truly amazing day.  Thanks for praying for us.  We are humbled to be a part of God’s work and continue to praise Him as THE HOPE for our future. 

Elders, Unity, Retreat…

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Starting today, the Elders I get the privilege to serve with will be taking some time to get away, pray, focus on long term vision and have unhurried discussion about many areas of the future.  We are taking our wives with us for some of this, to build into them and experience good fellowship together.  It really is a rich time.  Psalm 133 speaks of how good and pleasing it is for brothers to dwell together in unity and likens it to rich oil dripping down the head.  God is blessed when we lavish a spirit of unity on one another.  This is one component of how meaningful these times are.  While we are by no stretch of the imagination perfect, at the end of the day, we are in this great cause for the Gospel together.

So, if you take the time to read this, would you mention a prayer for our time together, that God would be glorified as we seek Him, seek His heart, and try to shepherd Crestview to the glory of God.

Pray for Us…

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Would you please take a moment and pray for me and the elders (of Crestview) and our wives?  We are heading to Kansas City Thursday afternoon through Saturday to spend time in prayer and seeking the Lord about direction for the coming year.  Ask God to give us wisdom, discernment and His mind about what practical pursuits need to occupy us in the coming year.