Since the sermon series on rest started, I've had a difficult time trying to figure out how to "rest." I find that I don't rest easy - just ask my wife, Betsy. I always want to be doing something. I can't rest when there is something that needs to be done. My mind and body become tense and I can't relax. My philosophy has been that I can rest when I'm done with everything that I need to do. Resting is hard for me, but I know that it is so important to my relationship with our Heavenly Father. In my normal routine I've always been able to find time to read my Bible most everyday. However I don't always have great prayer times and it never seems to be enough to allow God to speak to me. As a result I feel like I understand God, but my heart isn't always in the right place. I'm not able to fully rest in God. This past week I was on a bike ride with my father in-law. As I was struggling to go up one of the many hills on our bike path I had a revelation. I think I find my rest doing activities like biking, running, or hiking. While I'm physically staining myself, my soul feels at rest. I've been able to feel and hear God speaking to me and my mind is so much more clear during these times. Also I've realized that once I'm done exercising, my body rests so much better! So my question for you is, where do you find rest?
On my way into work this morning I heard this song by Jason Gray. It really hit me hard.
Do you have two personalities? One that you hate and the one you want to be? I know I do.
Listen to the video or read the words.
In particular listen to the last verse of the song. Jesus didn't come to earth to die for your made up self or fake self. He came to die for the broken. He came to die for the person you hate - the one we wish we weren't. He came to die so we no longer had to pretend to be something we aren't.
The Golden Boy & The Prodigal By Jason Gray
There are two sides to every person
Like the two sides of a dime
Heads or tails it depends upon
Who's watching at the time Though I hate to say it Mine is no exception One part is the prodigal The other part: deception
Like the prince and the pauper
Like Jacob and his brother
Each hide a different heart
Each a shadow of the other
Me and my doppelganger Both share the same blood One I have hated The other have I loved
One of them's the Golden Boy The man I'd like to be I show him off in the parades For all the world to see The other is much weaker He stumbles all the time The source of my embarrassment He's the one I try to hide
The Golden boy is made of straw His finest suit will surely burn His vice is the virtue That he never had to earn The prodigal's been broken And emptied at the wishing well But he's stronger for the breaking With a story to tell
I'm not easy with confessions
It's hard to tell the truth
But I have favored the golden boy
While the other I've abused
And he takes it like a man
Though he's longing like a child To be loved and forgiven
And share the burden for awhile
So take a good look in the mirror Tell me who you see The one who Jesus died for Or the one you'd rather be Can you find it in your heart To show mercy to the one The Father loved so much That he gave his only son...
Time for a confession. I am really bad at trusting in God. While he has proven Himself faithful over and over again to me, I don’t really trust him with anything. I always think that I must do something first in order for God to do His work. Once I get things in order, then God will be able to work his “magic.”
The latest example of my lack of faith was with the Dodgeball for Haiti tournament. God did some amazing things with the dodgeball tournament – I just had to get out of the way.
As many of you know, back on May 1st, Grace Community Church put together a high school dodgeball tournament to raise money for Haiti.
The idea for a dodgeball tournament came about after the Band WILLET performed at youth group. During their performance, they talked about the work their organization was doing in Haiti (www.willetmissions.org).
Pastor R came up to me the next Sunday and handed me the business card of Jeremy Willet (the lead singer). He said something like, “see if you can find some way for our church to help support their mission.”
Eric Miller and I got together one evening in late March to discuss how we could help raise money for Haiti. We decided a dodgeball tournament would be the way to go. Kids love dodgeball, and we could reach out to the schools to make this event much larger than Grace Community Church. We figured we would end up having more than 200 kids participate in the tournament.
God proved himself faithful throughout the process of planning the tournament. We were able to reserve space at Middletown High School. We had an awesome team of volunteers step forward to help put together the tournament. Businesses donated money and prizes for the tournament.
Everything was going great except for one part….no kids were signing up!
We promoted this tournament like crazy! We sent messages to every youth group in Frederick. Eric talked about it at youth group every Wednesday night. We sent messages to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) leaders of every high school in the area. We created a Facebook page. We created a website. We contacted all of the local newspapers and radio stations. We did everything we possibly could to get students to sign up for the tournament.
Yet four days before the tournament, we had 6 kids (1 team) signed up to play!
I was seriously stressed out (and depressed) about the tournament. I made a few phone calls and was considering calling it off. I kept saying to myself – “God, I’ve done my part, now it’s your turn to step up and do your part.”
It was at this time that I realized I had been trying to put together this tournament without God’s help. I never stopped to pray about the tournament. I never asked God for wisdom. Many others had been praying for this tournament, but I had not been.
Four days out from the tournament, I finally gave it over to Him. I tried to do it on my own and failed miserably. I began to pray that I would get out of His way and that He would work to make this tournament happen.
The next day (three days before the tournament) kids started to sign up. Slowly, I started to receive e-mails from kids staying they were going to play. The day before the tournament we figured we had about 60 kids sign up to play. I was ecstatic. We went from 6 kids to 60 almost over night!
But God had more in store….on the day of the tournament more kids showed up. We ended up having more than 80 kids come out to play.
The tournament was a huge success. The kids had a great time. One kid came up to me after the tournament and said, “When are you going to do this again? This was seriously the most fun I’ve had in years!”
At the end of the day, we raised $12,614 for Haiti relief efforts and more than 80 kids heard the Gospel. God’s hand was on the tournament – I just had to get my hands out of it.
How has God demonstrated his faithfulness to you? Do you ever need to get out of the way?
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