Stop, Reflect and Follow

We want everything to happen fast.  Baseball rules are changing to shorten games that have gotten tediously long.  We move at rapid pace from one thing to another, and we stress ourselves out as we try to do a task in 10 minutes that would be better done in 30.

This past Sunday it was Palm Sunday and I got to church at my normal time.  I usually get things ready for 9am worship and do a good "walkabout" of the church to make sure nothing is wrong.  So I came at normal time, and (since there was no 9am service) I found myself at 7am with nothing left to do and 2 and 1/2 hours before the 10:30am service started.  It was an interesting time of stopping and waiting.  I had a chance to reflect on a few things.

First, I reflected on my dislike of waiting.  If you read the Easter story, Jesus prayed in Gethsemane and the disciples fell asleep while waiting for Him.  The Bible says they were "exhausted from grief."  Our society shares this spirit of exhaustion.  And what are we exhausted from?  My perception is we are tired from our addiction to motion, activity and business.  Corrie Ten Boom said, "If the devil cannot make us bad, he will make us busy."  

Second, I reflected on my patterns ... the things I get all caught up in.  I learned something while listening to a message by John Mark Comer.  He said that the same endorphins that give a runner "runner's high" and the addict the desire to pursue their high at any cost, are the same endorphins that addict us to our motion and activity.  One writer was asked what Satan looked like.  The writer responded, "business."  We (I am included) have personalities that are addicted to the motion, activity and franticness of life.  We have difficulty stopping long enough to lift a prayer to God and then listen for God's answer.  Our patters and constant motion make it hard to stop, hard to reflect and hard to follow anything but urgency.  And, we are exhausted! 

Finally, on this Easter week, let's think of the Easter story.  It is a long and tedious journey that calls us to stop and reflect on each day.  Palm Sunday's triumphal entry.  "Hosanna" they shouted!  Thursday's new covenant of love, sacrifice, perfect Passover lamb and arrested criminal.  Twelve disciples stop with the Savior.  There is a late trial and the crowd shouts, "crucify Him!" Friday, Jesus is crucified.  All of this points to the high point of history as Jesus defeats death and the grave.  At each of these events we should stop, reflect and choose.  I pray you will choose to follow the Christ, the Son of the Living God ... the one who was, and is, and is to come.  Let's come Sunday and praise the name of the Lord our God!