New Time, New Practices

In many ways, as a pastor, COVID-19 has made my life busier. I find myself working more hours than I did prior to the pandemic. One night, I was up all night trying to get the sermon video loaded to Facebook and Livestream. My upload speed for my wireless internet was too slow so I was literally up til' 4am and then back at it by 6am. I just barely got the sermon up in time for our service time of 10:45am. It has been a crazy time, but an abnormal, unexpected crazy that I think I have finally begun to get under control.

Don't get me wrong. My life before the pandemic was hectic too. I am constantly available with my phone ever-present. I woke up and looked at my phone. I go to bed and check my phone before I drift off to sleep. I lack self-control at times to just set my phone down and stop checking email, Facebook, or that text. I know I'm not alone in this. We are constantly online "with" other people, while we miss the people in front of our faces because the screen is blocking them. I knew this was a problem, but I continued to ignore the people (sorry honey) and the books that kept shouting to me about my problem, or maybe even an addiction. OK, it's an addiction. I confess it.

I even bought a book in February called The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry because I knew I needed to find a way to slow down and begin to adjust how I was living life. I read the introduction, felt too convicted, and put it down. I began to compare my situation of tech addiction to others around me and I always came out the victor because I was doing better than others. Or so I thought.

Then, the pandemic hit. I saw the book on my shelf and decided I would actually read it in my devotional time. I set aside a certain amount of time each day to be with the LORD, but it was becoming clear I was not spending enough time with Him.

To say I've been convicted from reading this book would be saying far too little of how it has affected me. I am not only convicted of my lack of slowing down and my addiction to technology, but I am also convinced it needs to change. I know many are worn out by the phrase "new normal", but we need to confess we are in a "new time" or a "new era". With this new time, there is a new clarity as we look upon what we were doing with new eyes.

I have put questions on my desk that I need to ask myself regularly. They are:

What needs to change?
How has this shut down forced me to change? How has it forced our church to change?
What do I need to adjust to pray more deeply and to deepen my walk with Christ and others?

In many ways, Comer's book, along with the accompanying Scriptures gave me several answers to these questions. Those answers were not only a strong punch to the gut but also a much-needed view into the needs of my soul. I will discuss these in later blogs.

Comer calls our discipleship "apprenticing". We are to be the apprentices of Jesus. That, to me, in some sense, changes how I view my discipleship walk. It reminds me that I am seeking to become like Christ...not just a better version of myself.

In that vein, Comer challenges his readers to act like Jesus. As believers, we are all on a journey with Jesus. My journey is not the same as yours, but there will certainly be commonality within our journeys. Here, I am "picking back up the pen" to start blogging again. It is a practice that has always fed my soul.

I want to share my journey as I wrestle with some of the challenges in Comer's book. I hope you too are challenged as you journey with me.