Incomplete Thoughts Connected Only by the Heart

I've been preaching from Joshua this month...a story of conquest, battles, blood, horrific slaughter, and then midway through the tale it reads, "Then the land had rest from war" (11:23b). I find myself, at this point in the story, exhaling in relief, and it immediately takes me to the words of Jesus: "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you REST" (Matt. 11:28).

Rest? That is not my experience of life, and not my experience of the Christian life either! From what I have observed, it doesn't seem to be the experience of others. People are always after something. I'm always after something. I'm a driver...a fidgety, restless soul. Even in my hobbies I'm pushing: running, cycling, hiking. What am I chasing? What are you chasing?

As I sat in various airports over the last month I've been overwhelmed by the amount of people: people coming and going, talking and typing, eating and reading. As I sat at a standstill on the 101 in LA, pinned-in by a sea of Audis, semis, and 1993 Toyotas, I realized that the world, except for an infant's handful of people, was unaware and indifferent to my existence. 7,000,000,000 people! Yes...I want you to see the zeros! 7,000,000,000 people coming and going, talking and typing, driving and texting, working and spending, climbing and building, pushing...striving...seeking...

FOR WHAT?

And I wondered. What if when I come to the end of my life, just a few breaths left in the tank, and my heart asks me, "So what did you do with your life?" I will think. I will be tempted to list accomplishments, projects completed, degrees accumulated, people taught, races run, family loved...but I wonder if the truth will be, "I strove."

FOR WHAT?

I can't be lazy. I don't want to be unproductive, but I don't want to spend my life striving. Perhaps when I learn to rest in Jesus...I will find the space to quit striving, the space to LIVE.

Then the land had rest from war...