Pulled

I was thinking today about how I am pulled in so many directions in life. I was reading an article about the use of the latest technology in ministry and, at the same time, I'm thinking about how it is been quite a while since I got away for a day of prayer and silence. One part of me likes and appreciates the gadgets of technology, but the other side sees how they can really interfere.

It's easy at this point to say that one has to have "discipline." Having discipline in a specific area is easy, if you enjoy that area. If it is an arena of struggle, then it becomes "discipline."

This is one reason why I cringe at the view of the Christian life as some terrestrial cruise. You wander around this huge ship being entertained and having all your needs met. There are no storms and if there are financial issues, you just need to have more faith.

Reality says that problems exist and life "sucks." The concept of "happily every after" is one for fairy tales. Reality says that life is a journey, a pilgrimage, through a land that is not really our own.

It takes a lot of time and contemplation to get back to what is really "me." I'm sure there are people who can do it in a split second, but I have to sit and think. Is what am I doing ... is how I'm thinking really me or just something that has been shoved at me by others?

2 Samuel 7:18 (NIV) Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and he said: "Who am I, O Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?"

2 Samuel 7-8