Fuel

The other day I was driving down the highway when I noticed that my gas was running quite low. I pulled off at the nearest exit and stopped at the closest gas station I could find. To my relief gas was quite cheap at only $3.12 per gallon. Being the poor college student that I am, getting gas can tend to be stressful to think about.

While sitting in my room yesterday I also came to the conclusion that I was low on another kind of fuel. All the go go go of school and work and being social had completely worn me out. When one of my friends asked me if I wanted to hangout, I flat out told them no because I honestly didn't have anything left in me. I was burnt out. Eventually I laid down and just took a nap.

"Where is he going with all this?" is what you're probably thinking. Well today while sitting in one of my classes that I was having a hard time focusing in, I came to the realization that there was one more type of fuel I was quite low on, spiritual fuel.  All the go go go had not only worn out my physical energy but because of the go go go, I was failing to allow myself the much needed time with God. One thing that I've noticed while attending Kuyper College is that when you are going to school to go into ministry it is very easy to justify not spending a lot of time directly with God and in the word, by telling yourself that since you do that every day for class, you don't really have to do it in your spare time. The reality is, that just isn't the case. In neglecting to spend personal time with God and in the word, I am missing out on an important detail of my spiritual life. I think it's safe to say that we all do this at times to. We get caught up in the busyness  of life and we can't even take 5 minutes out of our day to stop and commune with the one who's love for us is so great that he DIED for us!

After noticing how much I had been neglecting my spiritual life, I decided that I needed to do something about it. I haven't come up with a plan yet, but I know that if I don't lay down a plan of action and set out a time slot in which I declare "this is God's time", I'm never going to be able fuel myself spiritually. My challenge for you is this and perhaps you're already doing it. Take 5 minutes out of your day, Any 5 minute time slot, it can be before bed, it can be right when you wake up, it can be before you eat breakfast, lunch, or dinner, it can be any time. But take 5 minutes out of your day and devote them to God. I mean when you think about it, it's not that hard to do. There are 1440 minutes in a day. Until next time folks, TTFN, tah tah for now

Silence

     What is silence? A dictionary would probably define it as the absence of sound. A basketball player might say it's when they're about to shoot for a winning free throw and everything around them gets drowned out. If you asked me on a day like toady I would probably say that that it does not exist. Between all of the work, relationships, music, movies, cars etc... There is no silence. Even when we sleep many of our bodies are so unused to silence that we need fans to make noise and help us sleep.
      What would you do with a moment of silence? God wants to have a relationship with us, He loves us, he cares for us, he listens to our hearts and our words lifted up in prayer, but do we ever take the time to sit and listen to what he has to say? what he has in store for our lives? Do we ever REALLY leave a moment of silence in our day to just sit and listen to God? More often than not I would say that we don't; even when we take the time to pray. Prayer works kinda like a walkie-talkie, it is a two-way form of communication between you and God, but if you are constantly talking into a walkie-talkie you can't here the person on the other side. It is the same way with God, if we are constantly the ones doing the talking, then how are we ever going to be able to hear what he has to say? It is in our times of silence that we can truly hear God. In my last post I talked about the wait. Part of that wait is allowing yourself to have times of silence, to sit and listen to what God has to say. So turn off the radio, shut off the fan, close the door, heck you can even go use one of the sound proof booths at best buy if thats what you really need. But let's spend some time in silence and listen to God's plan for our lives, and if you are one of those people that can't stand silence then let God be your noise.