Why this, why now?

I suppose one should start off one’s blog with a little background…why this blog, and why now?  

Well, that story begins about 4 years ago when I was getting ready to leave Okinawa and the bishop of the Anglican church wanted to present me with a scroll written in kanji.  His question – what Bible verse did I want on it?  My wife and I discussed it and decided that the message God was trying to teach us in Okinawa was “Be still, and know that I am God”.  A few months later we arrived in San Diego.  I was asked to preach at our old church.  The psalm for that day was psalm 46, which contains the line “Be still, and know that I am God”.  A month or so later I was preaching at what was to become my home parish (Christ the King).  The psalm for that day was psalm 37, which contains the verse “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him”.  Coincidence?  I think not. 

At the time, I thought God was emphasizing the point and I could move on with life.  But over the past 3 years this has continued to be a major recurring – no, major CONSTANT theme.  You’d be surprised how often “Be still” comes up in readings, songs, sermons, plaques, etc!  Over those 3 years I have gradually, reluctantly at times, come to embrace being still.  And I have begun to understand that it is so much more than just “not moving”.  It is not worrying.  It is releasing everything – my fears, my dreams, my sins, my works, my treasures, and most of all myself – to God.  It is trusting in Him. 

This has lately been driven home to me as I went through the discernment process for my calling to the priesthood.  It began with a simple question – what is the difference between secular humility and Christian humility?  Meditation and prayer on that question led to conviction, repentance, and a beginning of a deeper understanding of what it means to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus (Luke 9:23-24).  “Humility” by Andrew Murray, and “When God Takes Too Long” by Joseph Bentz have also been sources of “stillness” for me lately.

I am beginning to accept that the journey is not something to be rushed, or tolerated until I reach the destination.  The journey is life.  The journey continues as God works in me and through me.  It is a thing to be savored, cherished, and enjoyed.  It is also a thing to be shared.  So I hope that you will join me as I learn the Art of Being Still….

God bless