Soul Retreat!

Getting away is so important.

A few years ago, I made the decision to regularly get away from it all-people, facebook, tv, Playstation, work, and daily responsibilities. I decided to call it Soul Retreat.

I'd love to get the chance to go on a Soul Retreat more than once a year; however, with young kids and a wife its kinda hard. Excuses, excuse-I know!

Anyways...I'm convinced that there's a ton of value in getting away from the regular things that covet our time and attention. I don't think that these times in our lives have to be (or even should be) some sort of mountain-top experience where we rededicate (or dedicate for some of us) our lives back to the Lord, or where we commit to some sort of short-lived and unreasonable goal to drastically change some sort of behavior or implement some sort of lifestyle change. On the contrary, I try to avoid these sort of overly feely false commitments and "repentances." The value, I have found, is in the silence.

 Silence from all of the things that so easily and rightfully distract us can be so scary. It's hard to be left to nothing but our thoughts, a 66 part story, a pen, a moleskin, our pipe (well not really sad...more...awesome), a tent, some camping food, a nalgene, a backpack, and our self. It's scary because prolonged silence forces us to listen to the first clamor or whisper that we undoubtedly hear. The truth about our weaknesses, strengths, shortcomings, victories, failures, and current condition is revealed easier when life's responsibilities, hobbies, interests, lusts, addictions, and idols are left at home (at least with our best effort).

I guess when I'm saying is that life is just too important and short to simply not have these times. I thinks it's fair to ask that we commit to ourselves that we will "get away" at least once a year. Whether it's for a short hike at a State Park nearby or a more extended camping trip alone in a desolate area. Everyone's circumstances, freedoms, and skills limit what's reasonable and safe when it comes to "getting away." But, no one I've ever known, can't do this at least once a year for at least half a day.

Soul Retreat 2012!

Dare all the more, to not let life get in the way of you getting away from life to figure out, just a little more, your life!

Questions

It was a Monday morning.

Mere had taken the kids to the YMCA and dropped me off to play some disc golf at the park. We were on our way home from the park and I was stressing about money! Well, it really wasn't money, it was the van. Our check engine light had come on. I knew there were a couple things about our van that probably needed to get checked out at some point, but really didn't wanna deal with the cost of taking it to a shop and having them tell me all the things wrong with my vehicle! Money's not exactly everywhere.

 I'm stressing about money when we pull in the drive.

Mere heads into the house while I unload the kids. Immediately, she notices something isn't right. She pops her head in the house and quickly notices that while we were gone, not but an hour and a half...our house was robbed.

Somebody kicked our door in, walked around our house, took many of our/my things, and then left without getting caught.

It's been a few weeks now and the emotions are fading. We're coming to terms with what we lost and striving to be thankful for what we still have. Praise the Lord that no one was hurt or even put in a place where there was a chance of that kind of tragedy.

------------------------------------------------------------

When unfortunate or "unfair" things happen to me, I typically find myself doing what most people do-asking questions. Why did this happen? What's the lesson I'm supposed to learn from this? What did I do to bring this punishment on myself? What could I have done to prevent this? Who's fault is this? What will life be like now? And so on...

I think asking questions is normal. Right?

But, there comes a point, when we have to get past pursuing the answers to these and many more questions that we find ourselves posing. It seems like some of these questions have compounding and never-ending answers to them. We really could spend the rest of our lives asking questions to the air, wondering, "Why me?," or, "What caused this?"

I have found that there really is only one question that needs to be asked in these situations. (It's not that there is only one important question, or that this is the only question that we should ask, or even that this is the only question that could potentially benefit us; rather, this question is so important that we'd be missing out on some great things if we didn't ask it-hence the underlining of "needs")

When confronted by unexplainable loss, undeserved afflictions, confusing and painful circumstances, or suffering, we need to ask ourselves, "How will I choose to react?"

Life is really just a series of experiences. These experiences comprise our days. The days comprise our weeks, the weeks our months, the months our years, and the years our lives. Our lives are our stories. But, these stories...they're not about you or me. Our stories comprise history. And history...well, history really isn't about you or me. History comprises His story. It's actually all about Him.

The importance of asking the question, "How will I choose to react?" lies in the action that makes up the answer.

If all of these experience in our lives, both good and bad, are all, ultimately, not about us but rather someone else, then our response to them is drastically more important than our grasp on them.

The good news is that some of the questions that we naturally ask ourselves when we face these experiences are already on the right track. We naturally know, when we experience something terrible, that it's not about us. There's usually something bigger going on. And you know what, we don't have to understand what, why, or how. We simply need to choose what we're going to do, how we're going to be, and who we're going to point it all back to. Our reaction is more important than anything else, mostly because it's one thing we can definitely have a large part in controlling.

We're characters, part of a Grand story about love, grace, brokenness, glory and reconciliation; our part is small, but the story is not. Strive to react in a way that contributes to the character development of the Protagonist (main character) rather than the antagonist.

Dare, with me, all the more to continually look to Him when confronted by pain, affliction, and suffering; let your reaction be running into His arms, singing about His beauty, and thanking Him for the chance to play a part in His story!