OUT of STEAM? BE STILL!

Good Friday to everyone in blog world! I must confess I am simply out of steam today. After the last few weeks of moving and trying to get settled down and then staying up too late to watch the Olympics, I am just plain out of energy.

It's called burnout and I'd like to officially welcome myself to this horrible state of mind. Does anyone out there ever feel this way? Surely I'm not the only one. I enjoy being actively involved in whatever. I like busy-work. Joy, a lady at our church, and I joke about never being able to rest. She's one of those that can't relax either. We've joked that her husband and my wife should start a support group for themselves because they simply look at us and shake their heads when they see that we are unable to relax and be still even if a TV show is on.

I've learned that I have to be careful with this same issue in my ministry as well. You see, I like to plan and organize and make things happen, but sometimes I try to do them in my own energy and strength. Sometimes I catch myself not asking God first because I'm confident in what I'm doing. There's nothing wrong with using the gift that He's blessed me with to make sure things happen and get done, but there is something wrong if I'm never still before Him and say, "Is this what You want for us God" or "Am I on the right track". It's kind of like the free will He gives us all. We have the right to choose Him or not and yet once we accept Him we should basically turn that free will over to our master each day. It's still our life, yes, but He should be at the head of every decision and choice. When we get this into our way of thinking we then become His bond servant, working for and with the Master not because we have to but because we want to.

When I fail to ask first, I ultimately end up doing it on my own and then I do not have anything left in me after it's all said and done. WHY? Because I tried to do it within my own power and not His. I'm slow and stubborn to learn I guess. I hung a picture up on the wall in our living room last night and it said the all too familiar passage, "Be still and know that I am God." Sometimes I guess I have to remind myself to be still and let Him be God or to be still and know that Ron's not God.

Oh it's so hard to be so honest about yourself in a public forum like this but that's me in a nutshell. When used in the right way, great things happen in our lives and our ministry. When it isn't, then we get a burned out Ron. I pray that if you see a little bit of yourself in me to please, slow down a little bit, enjoy the sunsets, the deer in the field, the screaming kids in your ear, and BE STILL from time to time. You'll find it resting, relaxing, and refreshing! He is God. Let Him be Lord!