I’ve noticed that on the World Race we have a lot of down time. Don’t get me wrong; there are days that are so full of scheduled ministry that I come home and just want to sleep. There are other times when I have hours of free time and I have the opportunity to decide how I use them. Before I left I had heard that there are months where past racers would have extra down time and they could spend it as they pleased, and also that I needed to make my quiet time with God a priority and not have distractions. Well I’m three and a half months in and I now know what they are talking about. Satan has used even the good things to distract me on this trip from time that I should be spending with the Lord. I’ve found that, for me, the biggest distraction on the race is Internet.
I’ve been so blessed the last few months with Internet at my fingertips. It’s been such a blessing to have the opportunity to connect with family and friends back at home and to read fellow racers’ blogs and catch up on football highlights. However, I’ve been finding that I have been allowing this easily accessible Internet to be more of a curse than a blessing. My quiet times with God have been replaced with hours of Internet…that’s not okay. So where do I go from here? I want that time with the Lord, but I also want to take advantage of the Internet that we’ve been provided by our contacts. So God told me to go on an Internet fast.
I love waking up and spending time reading the bible with a cup of coffee, and the first part of the month I’ve woken up and gotten online. I really want my mornings to be dedicated to time for me and God, so I am off the Internet from the time I wake up until 5pm. I’ve also noticed I’m online until pretty late, so I disconnect from the Internet at 9:30pm. That gives me four and a half hours to upload photos, catch up with family, download podcasts, and read blogs.
It’s been two weeks since I’ve started and I’m not going to lie, it’s been hard. The first week started off okay, but after day two, I was back to being glued to the Internet. I had started the fast with another teammate, and we had both failed miserably. I was really disappointed in myself and my lack of obedience to God, but He reminded me that He’s not going to give me a task that I can’t accomplish. The first week He taught me that I can’t do this on my own. I have to constantly rely on Him and seek Him for strength to carry out the task He gave me. Week two went so much better. I’ve been able to have so much more time alone with God to just talk with Him, listen to podcasts, and rest in His presence. This will definitely be something that I take into other months if Internet is readily available like it has been here. I’m looking forward to seeing how God continues to use this time to bring me into a more intimate relationship with Him.
