Thank you so much for the 4 month sabbatical. As I return, I realize that I was so tired I was on the verge of being soul-sick. I worried before I left about feeling lonesome and isolated. No such thing. I relished quiet and alone time, along with doses of friends. This was an extraordinary time to pray for the simple sake of prayer and to be with my Lord Jesus. I relished it!
I did manage to have plenty of time to pray for you as members of Sanctuary, for our church and for the Green Bean and our church plants. It was a joy to think of many of you and to pray specifically for you as the Spirit led me. For depth of spirit, for an increase in love and compassion, for career guidance, for patience in parenting, for relationships, for reconciliation and forgiveness, for perseverance in the midst of mental and physical health struggles….each prayer for a particular person and situation.
As I reflect on these times of prayer, I feel a deep gratitude for each of you at Sanctuary, for your love and for your many gifts. I also gave great thought to our vision to “make space for God” in our hearts, relationships and our world. God is so choked out of modern society. Let me give an example.
Last night, just 5 days after landing in the USA and fresh back from Spokane and Andy’s graduation from Whitworth, I found myself standing in Home Depot with Nancy, hip deep in first world problems. Fresh back from holding the families of murder victims, I was standing in the jungle of consumer choices holding bathroom and shower tile trying to pick the best option for us out of the 50 or so that would have fit the color pattern of our bathroom vanity. Speaking of vanity, the Old Testament Wisdom Teacher wrote, “Vanity, vanity – all is vanity”. I don’t think he had bathrooms remodels in mind, but boy did I feel a dose of sensory overload and confusion and a distance from my spiritual center. I came home and went to bed…and couldn’t go to sleep for “de-stressing” from “choice overload” at the temple of American Standard Fixupism.
Think of all the distraction we each face every day! Dressing. Driving. Selecting toothpaste. Shopping. Relationships that demand a total of more than the total we can spare emotionally and physically.
Thanks be to God. If we just get still. If we center ourselves in Jesus, he is right there. I have learned about this wonderful gift more than ever the last four months and I don’t want to neglect this gift going forward, whether at Safeway, Home Depot, Bartell’s or the office. Join me in a radical corporate spiritual effort of making space for God and crowding out the distractions with the Divine Presence offered to us in Jesus Christ.
Love you Lots,
Randy Rowland
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