Happy New Year!!!!!

We're getting excited as we finish packing for Florida. We fly from Halifax on Tuesday for 2 weeks in (what we hope will be) the sunny south. The boys are so excited they can hardly sleep. We're going to have a great time.

There won't be an OnFire until after Jan 17th.

Thanks for your reponses to last week's question. To refresh your memories, I asked, "If your church were given $1million, no strings attached, how would you like to see it used?" Its not too late to answer if you haven't. When I get back I'll share the results with you. If I can, I'd like to get a magazine article out of this, so I can use all the answers I can get. I won't identity anyone by name.

Troy

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MK 1:35-37 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: "Everyone is looking for you!"*

In my former days I was a swimming instructor and lifeguard. We taught people how to survive in a foreign and alien environment. Water may be necessary for life, but it will not support it, and so we have to learn how to survive in it. First we learn to float, then glide, and then to swim in varying degrees of ability and stamina until we are competent at some level. If we don’t, we sink. I once resuced an 8 year old girl who slipped into deep water. I had to feel around underwater to find her, but she was conscious and started to breathe when I pulled her to the surface.

Life sometimes feels that way. We can be overwhelmed as we try to stay afloat in a sea of demands. Some are better at managing stress than others, and sometimes we are more, or even less, capable of handling the pressure. While no longer a lifeguard, I still respond to the calls of people caught in the struggle to rise above the depths.

But just as we can learn to swim, and even to enjoy it, we can learn to manage the pressures of life so that we will not be overwhelmed. In today’s lesson, Jesus shows us one of the ways he avoids being overcome by the crowds of people who pressed him from every side.

The gospel of Mark starts with the public ministry of Jesus. Immediately we get a sense of the urgency and pressures Jesus faced. The Spirit sent him "at once" into the desert to be tempted after his baptism (v.12). Simon and Andrew left their nets "at once" to follow him (v. 18). He called John and James "without delay" (v.20).

News about Jesus’ authority and ability spread "quickly" (v. 28), so that soon "the whole town gathered at the door" of Simon Peter’s mother-in-law where they stayed (v.33). Jesus must have burned the midnight oil as he healed their diseases and drove out the demons. The next morning, people gathered again. "Everyone is looking for you," said Simon (v.35).

Pressure. People. They go hand in hand. We can’t have one without the other. Jesus faced a lot of both, but we see how he handled himself. "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed." (V.35)

The idea here is not to suggest getting up before the sun because Jesus did. I do this all the time, but it doesn’t work for Jan. Rather, we see that Jesus filled his time before it was filled for him.

We will never have any trouble filling our time. Even if we don’t plan a thing, our time will be filled for us. Someone will call and suggest something. Someone else drops in. We go here, we go there. The day is done and the important things still aren’t finished.

The key is to plan for what is important first. That’s what Jesus did. He took control of his day before the demands for his time got the better of him. He prayed, spent time with the Father. The people were still there, and they would continue to be.

If we don’t fill our time first with the important things, like our relationship with God through prayer and Bible study, then it will get filled for us, and we will always struggle with the feeling that life is out of control.

Now - the hard part - it takes faith to take even a few moments when life is really full. I know. I fail at this one all the time. The pressures of life and ministry create an urgency which I find hard to ignore. I have never regretted spending time with God, but at the same time I sometimes doubt if I will get everything done if I do. So, it takes a certain amount of faith to trust that I will get done what I need to do.

It also takes faith to leave in God’s hands the things which I will not finish, because it is impossible to do everything. There is a saying: "There’s not much more to do, but there’s always one more thing." At least by doing the important things first, I never have to wonder if I have wasted my time.

I hope this helps. Be On Fire, and happy new year.

Troy

ON FIRE is a weekly letter of encouragement by Troy Dennis. This letter published Jan 1, 2006. www.onfireletter.com