Slow Down!

We often describe following God as being like a journey. Indeed, one of the key ways in which we might describe the life of faith is as pilgrimage. However, we do need to think about where there journey may take us, and how quickly. Too often we are in too much of a hurry, and forget that we need to recognise that God's timing might not be quite what we expect. The aim, of course, is always that of transformation. We believe that God can transform things. In "Recovering the Sacred Center" (Judson Press, 1998) Howard Friend reminds us of the need to allow our perspective to slow down - “In Scripture, stories of transformation are journey stories. Typically, these narratives consume more time than their characters expect, and they demand more of them than they ever anticipated. Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees with no idea that before God’s promise would be fulfilled, twenty-five years would pass. Jacob dreamed, as he rested his head on a stone pillow at Bethel, with no idea that his sojourn would wend through a decade and more. If they had known they would wander for forty years in the wilderness, the children of Israel might have remained forever in the grip of Egyptian slavery. As his personal reflections reveal in Galatians and as Luke reports in Acts, Paul spent three years in Arabia “recovering” from his conversion experience and as many as nine years in a ministry of minimal success before his missionary work bore fruit. Those who dare to lead at the cutting edge, who dare to blaze fresh trails towards the reinvented future church, need to muster this kind of determination and stamina.”