The Need for Rest

“Sometimes it seems things go by too quickly.
We are so busy watching out for what's just ahead of us
that we don't take the time to enjoy where we are.”
— CALVIN —
CALVIN & HOBBES

Today marks the 11th day of our family vacation to Florida. We are really enjoying ourselves. The first couple days, we stayed with friends in Lakeland. We spent one of those days on the beach in St. Petersburg. It was great to unwind in the water and watch my kids collect shells - a real treat for them since they have grown up land-locked in Austin and near Chicago. I even found a sand dollar.

The next six days were spent in Disney mode. It was pretty much perfect. Almost no crowds. Sunny weather in the 80s. We did great as a family — a lot of laughing and smiling and talking about what we enjoyed the most. While it was wonderful, it was exhausting.

I am so thankful for this last leg of our trip - 7 days at a resort community here in Orlando - where we have been sticking to our plan to do pretty much nothing. Sleeping in. Snacking all day long. Reading books. Going for a jog. Watching football. Lazing around the condo. Kicking back in the gorgeous pool.


This isn't our normal life...nor should it be. But it's important to take time out to rest. To be still. To think about who we are. And who we want to be. To unplug from the noise in our lives and listen to God. Over the past few years, the discipline of silence has become increasingly important to me. I see it more and more as central to following Christ and dwelling with Him. Here are just of few of my favorite quotes and verses on slowing down.

“I think the Devil has made it his business to monopolize
on three elements: noise, hurry, crowds…
Satan is quite aware of the power of silence.”
— JIM ELLIOT —
1927-1956

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."
— JESUS —
MATTHEW 11:28-29

“How can you expect God to speak in that gentle and inward voice which melts the soul, when you are making so much noise with your rapid reflections? Be silent, and God will speak again.”
— FRANCOIS FENELON —
1651-1715

"Be still and know that I am God..."
— Psalm 46:10 —

I think busy people with hectic schedules have trouble being godly people with Kingdom schedules. Our culture pressures us to have noisy, crazy lives. It seems to be so ingrained in the American lifestyle that many can't imagine anything different. For so long, I know I couldn't. But life doesn't have to be this way. As we run through this margin-less rat race, we yearn for something different. We long for a type of rest that we aren't even sure this world can provide. Of course, what we are really looking for is something we lost in a garden a very long, long time ago.

“You have made us for Yourself and our hearts are restless
until they find their rest in You."
— AUGUSTINE —
354-430

So, here's to vacations, long walks, afternoons at the beach, sunsets and anything else that helps you slow down, unplug and listen.

The Man in Black

Today marks the 5-year anniversary of the death of Johnny Cash — September 12, 2003. Listen to the obituary from NPR.


Last night, I got on Amazon and ordered a 16-CD set of Johnny Cash reading the New Testament. Once I get it, I'll let you know what I think. The samples I heard were amazing, but that's a biased opinion — I've been enthralled with his voice for as long as I can remember, at least since 1991. I just learned that in 1986 Cash wrote a novel about the life of the Apostle Paul, called The Man in White. It's out of print, but maybe, I can track a copy down sometime.

I'm leery of what the media has told us about the faith of Johnny Cash. I don't know if they have hyped it or underplayed it. I wonder if I will get a more personal sense of it listening to him read the Word. Whatever the depth of his faith, he certainly seems to have been cut from a different cloth than so many in the music industry who name Jesus when it's popular or profitable (or awards ceremony time). Regardless, the life of the Man in Black remains intriguing to me.

Here is the whole set of NPR stories on Johnny Cash, including an extended 36-minute interview. Read the obituary from the New York Times.
Read the obituary from the BBC News.

Discipleship Means Joy

If we answer the call to discipleship, where will it lead us?

Only Jesus Christ, who bids us to follow Him, knows the journey’s end.
But we know that it will be a road of boundless mercy.

Discipleship means Joy.

— DIETRICH BONHOEFFER —
THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP

Bonhoeffer was a German theologian and pastor who was part of the underground resistance against Hitler and the Nazis during World War II. He was executed by hanging at Flossenbürg on April 9, 1945, less than a week before the Allied Forces liberated the concentration camp.

Bonhoeffer's best known work is The Cost of Discipleship. The book had a profound effect on me when I picked it up for the first time back in the late 90s. I had just become a pastor and was searching for what it meant to help people follow Christ. Instead of getting a few good pointers on how to shepherd others, I was cut deeply — the type of cutting that you know is good but it hurts, like a surgeon removing cancer. Bonhoeffer's words were convicting. He challenged me to follow Christ at all costs. And while the book starts off in such a hard hitting way, it leads to something very rewarding. As I die to self and live to Christ, I receiving nothing less than joy. The happiest I have ever been are those times when I am following Jesus the most closely. Or in the words of Christ himself,

"If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow Me.
For whoever would save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. "

LUKE 9:23-24

"I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."
JOHN 10:10

For more about costly discipleship that leads to lasting joy,
dive into a copy of The Cost of Discipleship.

To learn about the life of Bonhoeffer, start with this brief article.

The Pursuit of God

Welcome to my blog - Children of the Burning Heart. The name is taken from a phrase in The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer.

"To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul's paradox of love.
Scorned, indeed, by the too-easily-satisfied religionist,
but justified in happy experience by the children of the burning heart."

These words capture my mind and give expression to my heart. This is where I want to live:

• pursuing God even though He has already found me
• chasing Him even though He has never left me
• wanting Christ even though I already have Him

These statements could seem like contradictions to some or even produce scoffing in others (the too-easily-satisfied religionist), but I think it makes total sense to those who have tasted and seen that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8). As David wrote in an earlier Psalm:

One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, and to seek Him in His temple.
— Psalm 27:4 —

This verse isn't coming from the pen of a spiritual neophyte. It's from David - a man after God's own heart (1 Samuel 13:14). And yet, even being so close to the Lord, David yearns to be with God and to gaze on His beauty ('delightfulness' in the literal Hebrew). The closer I get to Christ, the closer I want to be.

My hope with this blog is to explore — and to further — my pursuit of God. I'm sure there will be other posts on here too - ones about family, books, movies, vacations and food. Those can all be good parts of life, but they aren't the most important. They are given to us by God to draw us and others to Him.

One thing I ask of the Lord: to be a child of the burning heart.