Time Out!

Five minutes ago two youth group members left my office. It's the first day of summer vacation and they're already bored. Whatsupwiththat? I have an idea why people get bored so easily.

You see, there is this thing called "leisure time." This is time spent in a very "non-active" manner. It is a concept almost forgotten in today's world. God created the world in six days and RESTED on the seventh day. And as I like to say: If it's good enough for God it's good enough for us. So, take some time off.

We are so used to staying very busy. During the school year there is school, homework, friends, jobs, chores, TV, phone, internet, sports, etc. When do we ever rest? Well, the answer could be summer. BUT no, everyone has to go to camps and get summer jobs and play and the busyness goes on. Not that any of these thing are bad. Here is the point:

When our lives are not running a thousand miles a minute we get bored. Whatsupwiththat? Why can't we just enjoy the quiet?

Here's a sport's metaphor: When a team is playing and the game is getting out of hand the coach will call a "time-out." The coach does this to have a rest from the hectic pace. "Time-out" is a needed thing in our lives.

This summer when you feel bored, look at that time as your leisure time. Time to relax and time to do something else God created leisure time for: pray! When you get bored, pray, or stick a Christian music CD in and listen to the music. There are even really cool "modern worship" CD's at Mardels. In fact, the music group I am a part of has a worship CD coming out this summer.

In a story from the Bible, the prophet Elijah was on a mountain listening for the voice of God. There was a strong and heavy wind, then an earthquake, then a fire but the LORD was not in any of these. Then there was a still small voice and the LORD was in the small voice.

This summer from time to time you might get bored. If you do, call "time-out" and listen for that still small voice to speak to you. Boredom will never be the same.