My new book, Addicted to Busy, releases this Fall.  I wrote the book because, more than anyone else, I need to embrace rhythms and rest. I would love to know if this book is needed in your life right now.

Introduction

In one sense, I’m the worst person to be writing this book, seeing as I’m a complete hypocrite when it comes to actually living out the restful rhythms I so passionately espouse. But in another sense, I’m the perfect choice, because I recognize that digging in my heels and demanding self-discipline will never correct my errant ways. They can’t and won’t correct your errant ways either, which is how I can so boldly declare that this book will not change your life. A book never changes our lives.

Here’s what will change our rhythms, our pace, our lives: revelation from the Spirit of God, or, in other words, the ability to detectspiritually what we’ve only had sensory knowledge of before. Yes, life is made up of tasks on the to-do list, our vehicles whizzing down the road, kids rattling off their incessant needs and wants, the hurried embrace of a spouse who is rushing off to drive carpool, the scent of one more bag of fast food—really, now, who has time to cook anymore?

But it also involves an undercurrent, if we have eyes to see and ears to hear, a spiritual underpinning holding together our days. It’s the God story that contextualizes the Us story. It’s a spiritual understanding that makes our lives make sense. The highest goal I can set for this book is that it will somehow serve as a conduit for the revelation we so sorely need. Mere words on a page can’t talk us out of our beloved freneticism, but the Holy Spirit can. And will, if we will let him.

I want this revelation, and yet I don’t. Because on the heels of real revelation, real-deal growth is required. “Revelation is not for the faint of heart,” writes Anne Lamott. But how beautiful it is when it finally appears. Without it, she continues, “life can seem like an endless desert of danger with scratchy sand in your shoes, and yet if we remember or are reminded to pay attention, we find so many sources of hidden water, so many bits and chips and washes of color, in a weed or the gravel or a sunrise. There are so many ways to sweep the sand off our feet. So we pray, ‘Oh, my God. Thanks.’”

That sense of gratitude is what I desperately want to feel. I want to receive revelation, I want to live from revelation, and I want to thank God for saving my sanity, by gently prodding me to slow my pace. And yet here’s a question I think about: would I even know how to live a slowed-down life? Would I know what to do with rest? When I was first handed my newborn son, while I was instantly in love with him, there was this secret question rushing through my brain: “What does it do?” 

Would I look at a well-rested life the same way?

How do I hold it?

What is it good for?

What on earth does it do?

I wonder if I’d be the guy who would unravel with the quiet of it all.

Still, I’m willing to try. I’m willing to put on a rhythmic life. When we know better, we do better, Maya Angelou says, in her unfailingly poetic way. I’ve known better for a long, long time. I’m ready for the doing-better part to begin.

In Jewish tradition, the command to “keep the Sabbath holy” is followed religiously, beginning at sundown Friday and lasting a full twenty-four hours, until sundown Saturday. Friday evening, as a way to welcome the prescribed unplug, the family recites a blessing—Kiddush, it’s called, literally meaning “holy.” There’s a Kiddush cup that you use, which looks like an ornate goblet that’s been glued to a small saucer—a saucer that’s really important, not only in function, but also in form. When the blessing is recited, typically by the father of the family, wine is poured into the goblet until it overflows, spilling out. You can get the cup and saucer for fifteen bucks on Amazon, but you can get what it represents only by living a rhythmic life. The pouring out, the overflow, the blessing—the symbol here as Sabbath begins is that God’s abundance cannot be contained.

This is what I’m after: feeling not empty, but full. Living not full-throttled, but at rest. Letting whatever abundance God has in store for me come in, sit down, be at home.

Take it easy.

Don’t let the sound of your own wheels

drive you crazy.

Lighten up while you still can. 

The Eagles 

Recently, I sat down with Pastor Yvette Maher, a pastor on our team here at New Life, to discuss the role of women in leadership in our congregation. This has been an ongoing conversation here, especially since I wrote Let Her Lead earlier in the year. Take a few minutes to watch this short video and let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.

The congregation in Antioch was blessed with a number of prophet-preachers and teachers. One day as they were worshipping God – they were also fasting as they waited for guidance – the Holy Spirit spoke: “Take Barnabas and Saul and commission them for the work I have called them to do.” So they commissioned them. In that circle of intensity and obedience, of fasting and praying, they laid hands on their heads and sent them off.

Acts 13:1-3 MSG

This is one of my favorite stories in the book of Acts. From the very beginning, the local church was supposed to be a family that celebrated multiplication and expansion. We are designed by our creator to nurture and send out our best. In the past six years at New Life, we have planted four churches in the US, dozens more overseas, and helped several of our staff transition to take key roles at existing churches. We have also launched a campus in our downtown area and are planning for more campus multiplication soon. Whether planting new churches, strengthening existing ones or opening campuses, I have learned there are three key factors that determine the success of each transition.

The Place

First, God gives us a burden for a place. Two years ago, while praying for our city, I felt an increasing responsibility to go to the downtown area. So, we began looking for places to meet, asking pastors of other downtown churches for their input and assessing the demands and needs of the area. The more we talked and asked questions, the more intense the burden became. It was clear the Lord was leading us to expand to a new place.

The Face

Second, God shares that burden with a person who is willing to go. About the same time, Pastor Glenn Packiam felt a transition in his role with our congregation and he was beginning to feel the same thing for downtown. Glenn had several important responsibilities at our main campus, but his team was ready to take over the leadership of his areas so he could be released to go. Glenn is a great communicator, teacher and leader and was the perfect person to go downtown with a team of people. We had the place and the face, but there was one last thing to consider.

The Pace

Third, God gives us a pace. Timing is so important in every transition, especially if it involves key staff. Are they really ready as a leader to lead a congregation of their own? Are there emerging leaders ready to take their place or will their departure cause more harm than good to the sending church? Is their enough budget to fund them properly? Do they have a team to go with them? All of this requires wisdom, lots of conversation, and much prayer. Leaving too quickly can cause irreparable harm to both parties, but so can staying around too long. Pace is important, if not critical in the process.

All of this requires prayer and trusting, truthful relationships. It requires pastors willing to send and leaders who are willing to say “yes” to the adventure of going to the unknown. I am grateful Barnabas and Saul answered the call and for a church in Antioch that was not afraid to release their best people into a world that really needed them.