Our luggage had been left in the Philippines, along with all the new friends we had made in our first month of ministry. But this was month 2, and it promised a whole new set of opportunities. Team X-Stream piled into a van headed “just a few miles away” to our ministry site.
2 and a half hours later, while driving further and further into the vast nothingness of Cambodia, I remember telling Ryan, “I don’t think we’re in Phnom Penh this month.”
Our month in Takeo was one of the hardest of my life. Nothing strenuous, stressful, or even dangerous awaited us each morning. But what did, threatened to drive us all mad: nothing.
For a solid month we spent 20+ hours a day doing nothing. The treehouse became an asylum, at times.
Because there was nothing.
Just me.
And God.
No food that was remotely appetizing.
No electricity.
No football.
At one point during the month, during a rare time of communication back home, my mom asked me if this time next year I’d like to go to Colorado for Fall break.
I spent the next 10 months daydreaming of that day.
And it was everything I had dreamed it would be.
It was on one of these hikes that it hit me: I would do just about anything to have a few weeks of nothingness!
20 hours a day to sleep, read whatever I want, pray, journal endlessly, write songs, play guitar, get on my knees and cry out? um, YES please!
Between the 18 hours of classes/week and the daily grind of American life, I find myself with no time to read, think, even sleep at times.
This isn’t one of those blogs where a great new revelation smacks you on the head and a light bulb goes off…that’s cause I don’t have the answer.
How do you find time in a culture obsessed with utilizing every second of every day?
Authors have made millions writing answers to this question; seminars take place on a weekly basis trying to aid in this desire. Yet, the answer seems to remain as simple and straightforward as it always has:
Be Intentional.
Make time.
But I don’t want to sacrifice my other crap for this solitude. I mean, it’s pertinent that I ace that exam, have that conversation with her, make dinner on time, play the big word on Words with Friends, and see what happens on this week’s Modern Family.
Or is it?
2 and a half hours later, while driving further and further into the vast nothingness of Cambodia, I remember telling Ryan, “I don’t think we’re in Phnom Penh this month.”
Our month in Takeo was one of the hardest of my life. Nothing strenuous, stressful, or even dangerous awaited us each morning. But what did, threatened to drive us all mad: nothing.
For a solid month we spent 20+ hours a day doing nothing. The treehouse became an asylum, at times.
Because there was nothing.
Just me.
And God.
No English speakers.
No food that was remotely appetizing.
No electricity.
No football.
At one point during the month, during a rare time of communication back home, my mom asked me if this time next year I’d like to go to Colorado for Fall break.
I spent the next 10 months daydreaming of that day.
My Fall break was last week, and I spent it hiking in the snow and splendor of the Rocky Mountains. The trip I had daydreamed about for so long was finally happening.
And it was everything I had dreamed it would be.
It was on one of these hikes that it hit me: I would do just about anything to have a few weeks of nothingness!
20 hours a day to sleep, read whatever I want, pray, journal endlessly, write songs, play guitar, get on my knees and cry out? um, YES please!
Between the 18 hours of classes/week and the daily grind of American life, I find myself with no time to read, think, even sleep at times.
This isn’t one of those blogs where a great new revelation smacks you on the head and a light bulb goes off…that’s cause I don’t have the answer.
How do you find time in a culture obsessed with utilizing every second of every day?
Authors have made millions writing answers to this question; seminars take place on a weekly basis trying to aid in this desire. Yet, the answer seems to remain as simple and straightforward as it always has:
Be Intentional.
Make time.
But I don’t want to sacrifice my other crap for this solitude. I mean, it’s pertinent that I ace that exam, have that conversation with her, make dinner on time, play the big word on Words with Friends, and see what happens on this week’s Modern Family.
Or is it?
And it was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.
Luke 6:12
