Day 170 - I missed blogging, but God didn't miss me!

Day 170 - and oops for missing last week.
Doesn't mean I wasn't intentionally following Jesus ....I just wasn't doing it as well as I should have been.

Busyness and its sister 'tiredness' can most times spur me on to better things and focused living - but occasionally it can really distract me.
Occasionally was last week.
Not my best week.
Thankfully I listened into a teach from my 'go to guy to get kicked in the butt spiritually every time', Bill Hybels.
Maybe its because we lived in Chicago and enjoyed our time at Willowcreek Community Church where Bill is the Senior Pastor.
Maybe its because in Cardiff, Wales many years ago God used Bill to ignite the passion I have for the local church being the hope of the world.
Maybe its because Bill's own vulnerability helped others, myself included, be honest about leadership and daily leading a local church.
Maybe its because his candid but dignified leading and teaching is something I seek to emulate.

Whatever the maybe ......on my way home from a road trip to Martinez,CA a CD of Bill just spoke powerfully to me on the topic of soul replenishment.
He hit the nail on the head.
Ouch.

Bill tied it in to the main thing a Senior Pastor is required to bring - deep spiritual connectivity to Christ.

Double ouch!

Every Senior Pastor knows this ...but sometimes the pile of leadership stuff on my desk takes priority over the main spiritual leadership stuff I'm charged to bring.

So .....while my last week wasn't my best week .....it was a week when God used a key leader to hit me over the head, stab me in the stomach and point me in the direction I need to go these summer months.

Soul replenishment.

I know this will be hard for me to do.
Leaders are so often task oriented and vision focused. When I have new vision to write, new budgets to write, new recruiting to do, new plans to set, new teams to form, new messages to write, new ideas to craft ......these things sit at the fore of my mind.
Replenishment means - these things have to sit beneath both Christ and my enjoyment just of Him.

I know I am going to have to force myself to stop planning, envisioning, strategizing - and listen, be still, - the three r's "rest, relax, rejoice" as someone called it today.

So .......this week is me figuring out how to do what isn't natural to me.

Ideas welcome.

Seems weird even suggesting my intentional follow is going to be resting, relaxing and rejoicing!

Could however, be fun.