Live into the Time

A friend once shared that three weeks was the right length of time for a vacation. The first week he found himself still thinking about things at the office. The second week he started to truly check out and enjoy where he was. By the third week, he finally began to truly live into the time he had scheduled with his family.

It is a challenge sometimes to be where you are with computers in the palm of your hand and having work/family boundaries compromised while working from home. Distractions abound! Relationships in front of you often take a back seat. On our High Country Adventure, men are challenged to fast from technology and be present in the company of other men enjoying His creation. The charge is to live into the time before you.

He traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” – 1Kings 19:8-9. Elijah had just called on His God to prove Baal a false god. When God glorified Himself on Mount Carmel, Elijah proceeded to kill the 450 prophets of Baal that had been calling out to their god. He then prayed to God to open the heavens and pour down rain that He had withheld from the land for three years. And the rains came! King Ahab was finally convinced that Elijah’s God was the One true God. But Jezebel, Ahab’s wife was not convinced and threatened to kill Elijah. In fear, Elijah ran for his life. After living into the time God granted him on Mount Carmel, he turned away from God and ended up in a cave on Mount Horeb.  “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, because all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.” … Jesus said to her, “… but go to My brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, My God and your God.’” – John 15:15, 20:17. The disciples had walked with Jesus for three years watching Him teach, preach, forgive sins, heal the sick, cast out demons and suffer persecution to the point of death on a cross. Similar to Elijah, they had lived into the time granted them when they went out by twos to heal and cast out demons but upon His death, they feared for their lives, turned away and ended up in hiding. Then Jesus appeared among them in His resurrected body. Instead of asking, ‘What are you doing here?”, Jesus said, “Peace be with you.” He encouraged His disciples by showing them His hands and His side, helping them perceive a new dimension of faith and another level of maturity in relationship with Him. And at Pentecost they gained full understanding of how to live into the time before them.

Oswald Chambers has said, “Don’t think you cannot be an influence where you are because you certainly cannot be an influence where you are not.” The charge is to be where you are, rebuke distractions and live into the time before you.

Prayer guide: Thank You Lord for Your Word and Your love for me. I confess that while at work, I find myself thinking about being with family on vacation. And while with family, thinking about work piling up. Forgive me. I know You have me where You want me. Nothing is happenstance with You. Help me live into the time before me, to cherish the relationships in front of me. Especially the relationships in marriage and family. That is the dad You call me to be and that is the dad my kids need to see. Amen.

A faithful father rebukes distractions and lives into the time before him.