How do I do this? · FORGE TRIBE

How do I do this?

Woke up in the middle of the night last night. Could not go back to sleep. Been thinking about the discussion around the ruthless elimination of hurry.

I haven’t dived into the book yet, but have read a number of different resources related to the same theme: moving at the pace God designed and creating space for real communion to expand our capacity to know and experience God‘s love for us and thereby become fuller conduits of that love to those he puts in our lives.

This has been a huge theme of reflection for me over the last six years and has steered me on a new theological journey as I seek to understand what that means. I am always in a hurry. I’m always trying to produce more.

A few years ago I read a book by Justin Whitmel Earley. He describes his transformation from frenetic an anxious pace of life that led to serious physical complications to a life of liturgy. The name of his book is The Common Rule. He describes what we are looking at here in this community together. He talks about a rule of life and living inside the rhythms God designs for us. He wrote another book called the habits of the household. Haven’t read that one yet but want to! Anyway, It had a huge impact on me and created in me a desire for more liturgy. I started studying Anglicanism and fell in love with what I learned. There’s a reason so many men in America and so many people in America are returning to Catholicism or Eastern Orthodox faith. There’s a hunger for centeredness and a connection to ancient tradition, something that is deeper and more stable than common fads and pop spirituality.

We long for truth that transcends our appetites and consumer centered lives. Liturgy and a rule of life are ways to help us do that more effectively.

The learning I did while creating the Legend of Messiah devotional material for The Crucible also made a huge impact on me as I reflect on God‘s design for us, why he made us, why he created time and space defined by day and night, and how he designed us. And then to think how part of his rescue was to form a nation for himself and in forming them he created a calendar with appointed times that were all designed to keep his people in rhythm with his own story. Everything about their lives centered on the story of red redemption and pointed to him at the center of everything, and help helped keep them subordinate to his purposes. As I studied, I realized that the traditions we are learning about through a rule of life and liturgy are rooted in the faith of our Jewish “older brothers.” Jesus followed those rhythms. I’m trying to learn more about what those rhythms were and what that meant for Jesus and what that means for me.

It’s great to see a group of you going through this new book study the Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. Last night, when I could not go back to sleep, I looked it up in Spotify and found a sermon from the author, John Mark. I listened to the sermon. So good! I want to learn more about this and understand what it means for my life.

Meanwhile, I’m being pulled in several different directions with a burden for men, especially fathers. I have so much to learn about being God‘s chosen man to build my own son and my own daughter. I think many men feel the same need.

And so, in this season where I am trying to slow down and say yes to only the essentials that God is calling me to, I’m asking him what this burden for men and fathers means. Why do I feel it so heavy? Why am I so drawn to this burden? How do I meet this need in the communities and contexts where I belong? how am I supposed to slow down if God is calling me to a burden so big? I don’t understand this. I don’t understand how God gives you a vision and a burden, and then tells you to slow down. But who was a more perfect visionary and a more highly productive, more deeply effective builder than Jesus? Yet he was always moving at a relaxed and deliberate pace. Never in a hurry. Yeah he operated on a calendar. He knew everything had to fit perfectly with Passover. He operated on a timeline. He knew he had deadlines. Yet he was never in a hurry. He was never anxious. Something I just realized as I’m writing this… Most people were never satisfied with what he gave. In other words, he was content to leave people dissatisfied. He was not bound by other people‘s expectations. He was moving at the tempo his father revealed to him, focusing only on the task his father gave him for that day. Give us this day our daily bread. He lived in the moment. He was a mission driven leader, with a vision in front of him, but he lived fully present in the day. Give us this day our daily bread. That means give me the time I need today to do what you are calling me to do today. Give me the energy… Give me the money I need. Give me the food I need. Give me the patience I need. Give me the tools I need. … For today.

Wow. That’s stunning as I think about it just now.

So… If any of you guys have some time to spare, I would appreciate your prayers as I think through how God is calling me to live my life in a generous response to his amazing love. I want to write more. I want to produce more meaningful content for the kingdom. I want to mentor more. I want to disciple others more. But I need to learn how to do that for myself. And my family needs me more than anyone. God, speak to me. Help me to learn from my Lord who is humble and gentle of heart. Help me learn what it means to move in the easy yoke… because that is the yolk Jesus wants me to wear and following him.

I love all you men!

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