A Case of Local Warming

Interesting weather on this 7th day of January, so interesting that I declared a "sabbath" and launched out in the kayak. My put-in point was a few miles north of Loveland at this scenic bridge...my excursion of "rest" began at about 12pm and I landed in Milford at the Jim Terrel Park access spot at 4pm. Probably about 13-15 miles of paddling worked my shoulders over, but my soul was refreshed (while my lap was doused several times with the chilled waters of the Little Miami. Besides the physical benefits of a few hours' worth of paddling, the spiritual and emotional gains made the trip equally worthwhile. I was listening to Andy Stanley recently share a bit of his own personal approach and application of taking a sabbath each week and it challenged me. I have always tried to faithfully take that day off each week...although there's always more to be done in ministry and life in general. But I haven't always been great about making that a sabbath. Apparently, God was pretty serious about His people taking an entire 24-hour period of rest each week. It came early in the 'big ten' was followed with more explanation than any other commandment.

I would say that the takeaway from my time of prayerful paddling today had to do with bringing others along on the journey. Too often, my prayers can turn into some pathetic whining to the Lord...like "Why can't so-and-so get it?" or "How long is this going to take?" or "When is the church going to see it my way?!" You know...real spiritual drivel.

But the analogy occurred to me today that I wouldn't try to bring someone in on the experience of kayaking by just talking about my own trips down the river. Mere recountings and descriptions of kayak experiences I'VE had would not suffice. I would need to actually take the person with me on the water. Now, I don't totally understand how to do that spiritually, but I'd like to just invite people along on this simple way of following Jesus. Let's not just sit around and talk about it, or figure out which character we'd one day like to play in God's story...let's live it. Let's go get our feet wet and start making some waves. No beached kayaks please!