The following is an amazing a timely blog by this beautiful lady. I asked her to do a guest blog for me, and she did. This girl has been so reliable in my journey to, and I know she will be there through, the World Race. She is the sister of one of my closest friends, and really has been a treasure God has given to me in this adventure. I hope you will enjoy her blog! As someone constantly swamped in her thoughts, this is big!
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Distractions.
Those darn things are everywhere.
Even as I write this I’m distracted.
It’s the reggae music this coffee shop is jiving to that my worship music can’t fully tune out.
It’s my phone going off every couple minutes with questions from co-workers.
It’s the girl behind me who keeps.hitting.me.with.her.chair.
No matter where we go there are distractions. And if there aren’t any external distractions, there are internal ones, our thoughts forever propelling us forward so that even when we are sitting still we really aren’t being still.
We are unfortunately surrounded by these so frequently that we often fail to see the major impacts they have on our every day lives.
Notice the definitions for this word distraction:
1) A thing that prevents someone from giving full attention to something else.
2) An object that directs one’s attention away from something else.
3) The process of diverting the attention of an individual or group from a desired area of focus and thereby blocking or diminishing the reception of desired information.
I’d like to commend whoever was the Wikipedia writer on that last one.
The verbs for these definitions are strong.
Prevents. Directs away. Diverts. Blocks. Diminishes.
Our full attention is not there. We’re not fully focused. We’re not giving our best.
And yet we just shrug off the distractions when they happen. Apologizing as we go, sorry, got distracted.
Fully aware that it will totally happen again.
Squirrel.
But think about how it affects the people we are with and the things that we do.
Strong verbs show that it’s impact is stronger than we care to admit.
Our inability to curb those distractions are telling those in front of us, “sorry, you’re not important enough to me to stay completely focused on you.”
Oof.
Imagine saying that to a friend to a family member.
Imagine saying that to a coworker.
Imagine saying that to the Lord.
You knew I was going there.
And yet our actions are saying that.
Don’t worry, I’m preaching to myself too.
I went on the World Race in August of 2016 and it was incredible and life changing, and yet I was the most naive person when I got on the plane to head to our first country.
We had just finished launch, surrounded by and worshiping with hundreds of other racers who were also leaving soon. We were pumped, Jesus filled, and had enough adrenaline from lack of sleep and too much coffee to run around the airport a couple times.
And I was ready to conquer all things.
Let’s go Jesus. You and me. This year is for You and what You want me to do.
In theory it sounded great. But did you know that there are still distractions when you leave America on mission for the Lord?
Thoughts of home. Bugs. The heat. That one squad-mate you can’t seem to connect to.
In a season where you would think it would be the easiest to walk with the Lord, away from 1st world things, it proved to be just as hard.
Remember how horses used to wear blinders?
Probably drove them bonkers at time because I just know they wanted to see what was around them, but those blinders prevented that. They could only look straight at what was in front of them.
As Christians the Lord gives us spiritual blinders. He knows we’re humans and easily distracted. He knows what is around us isn’t always that important and how quickly we can be consumed by it all anyway.
But we don’t think that will happen so after awhile we tire of these blinders, want to peek around them, get frustrated when we can’t, and then just end up take them off and chucking them somewhere.
We’ll be ok right?
I for sure wasn’t.
I realized half way through the Race how those distractions were impacting me.
I wasn’t building relationships within my team.
I wasn’t investing in the ministry.
I wasn’t spending time with the Lord.
I was letting events at home and all of my feelings and emotions pull me away.
I was standing before those who mattered most and letting them know they weren’t important enough to focus on and everything else around me was.
I lost focus of where I was, whose I was, and what He wanted me to do. I missed opportunities to encourage my teammates, to serve the sweet people of El Salvador and to grow in my relationship with the Lord.
Ouch.
So there I was, standing before Him, staring down at my feet, not daring to look up because I knew I had messed up yet AGAIN and surely this time He wouldn’t want to extend any grace towards me.
But He did. And He does. Every time He does.
Praise be to the Father who does not give up on me. Who does not give up on us.
In His love and compassion and mercy, He lifts us up and sets us back on His path. Gives us back our “blinders.”
Here, I think you’re going to want these.
He is the only one who can keep us focused. Straight.
Psalm 123:2 says, “We keep looking to the Lord our God for his mercy, just as servants keep their eyes on their master, as a slave girl watches her mistress for the slightest signal.”
Look at that ongoing action.
When you’re listening to a friend and random thoughts try to take over, keep looking.
When you’re tired and want to find any excuse to not spend time with the Lord, keep looking.
When literally anything tries to pull you away from what the Lord has in front of you, because it it will happen, keep looking.
We will never ever perfect this. But we serve a perfect Savior who will always lift our eyes back to His.
Don’t miss out on what the Lord has for you because of what is around you.
We were made for more. We were made to look at Him.
