We need times of rest. Many of us don’t
even know what that means anymore.
We need time to play! The best
definition of play is: an activity that serves
no purpose. Think of children playing with
their dolls and trucks.
We need time to be with our Lord. We
need to talk with Him but even more to
listen to Him. The more we struggle
against the currents of life, the less time
we spend with our Lord.
You will not change most of the currents
you face. You must learn to survive them.
Do not let them sweep you to the places
you never intended to go. Find quiet
places regularly! Spend sufficient time
there. You are called to swim against the
“I never thought I would wind up in this
position!”
The expression may refer to depression,
doubt, burnout, pornography, moral failure
or a hundred other surprising situations.
Somehow life and ministry carry us to
places we never wanted to be or even
thought possible.
It happens far too often. We enter
ministry with a passion for the Lord, then
long hours, criticism, high expectations,
even too many good things coming too
fast overwhelm us and sweep us to a
place we never intended to be.
If you think it can’t happen to you, you
are already in a dangerous place.
Still Waters
I love fishing for trout in the mountain
streams of Colorado. Trout live in
constantly flowing currents, which at
times rage and threaten to sweep them
through rapids, over waterfalls and off
the mountain. The currents can carry
them to places they never intended or
desired to go.
To survive, mountain trout have learned
to find quiet waters, behind a log or rock,
or in a pool off to the side where the
currents don’t flow. The trout cannot
change the currents, but they learn to
survive in them. In the quiet waters, the
trout renew their strength before reentering
the currents.
We live in currents, as well. Currents
are always there and sometimes raging,
threatening to sweep us to places we
never expected to go. Sometimes the
currents we face become so familiar that
we forget how dangerous they can be.
There are personal currents, family
currents, cultural currents, organizational
currents and ministry currents. What
currents most threaten you?
Still Trying
One of the major currents threatening
many of us in ministry is the current of
expectations. So many people want so
much from us. Most of the time these are
good people, but they will take everything
we have to give—and more. We often
begin to own other peoples’ expectations,
and we fall into the false thinking that we
are called to meet everyone’s needs and
fulfill their desires.
Tape this phrase to your bathroom
mirror: There is a Savior, and you’re not
Him! Expectations can overwhelm us and
take us to very dangerous places.
Isaiah 28:12-13 says:
He said, “This is the resting place, let
the weary rest”…but they would not
listen. So then the word of the Lord to
them will become: Do and do, do and
do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little
here, a little there so that they go and
fall backward, be injured and snared
and taken captive.
They are swept to a place they never
intended to go!
Be Still
So what’s the answer? Like the mountain
trout, we need quiet places to renew our
thinking, our strength and our direction.
We need times of rest. Many of us don’t
even know what that means anymore.
We need time to play! The best
definition of play is: an activity that serves
no purpose. Think of children playing with
their dolls and trucks.
We need time to be with our Lord. We
need to talk with Him but even more to
listen to Him. The more we struggle
against the currents of life, the less time
we spend with our Lord.
You will not change most of the currents
you face. You must learn to survive them.
Do not let them sweep you to the places
you never intended to go. Find quiet
places regularly! Spend sufficient time
there. You are called to swim against the
currents of this world. You can—if you
learn the lesson of the mountain trout.
currents of this world. You can—if you
“I never thought I would wind up in this
position!”
The expression may refer to depression,
doubt, burnout, pornography, moral failure
or a hundred other surprising situations.
Somehow life and ministry carry us to
places we never wanted to be or even
thought possible.
It happens far too often. We enter
ministry with a passion for the Lord, then
long hours, criticism, high expectations,
even too many good things coming too
fast overwhelm us and sweep us to a
place we never intended to be.
If you think it can’t happen to you, you
are already in a dangerous place.
Still Waters
I love fishing for trout in the mountain
streams of Colorado. Trout live in
constantly flowing currents, which at
times rage and threaten to sweep them
through rapids, over waterfalls and off
the mountain. The currents can carry
them to places they never intended or
desired to go.
To survive, mountain trout have learned
to find quiet waters, behind a log or rock,
or in a pool off to the side where the
currents don’t flow. The trout cannot
change the currents, but they learn to
survive in them. In the quiet waters, the
trout renew their strength before reentering
the currents.
We live in currents, as well. Currents
are always there and sometimes raging,
threatening to sweep us to places we
never expected to go. Sometimes the
currents we face become so familiar that
we forget how dangerous they can be.
There are personal currents, family
currents, cultural currents, organizational
currents and ministry currents. What
currents most threaten you?
Still Trying
One of the major currents threatening
many of us in ministry is the current of
expectations. So many people want so
much from us. Most of the time these are
good people, but they will take everything
we have to give—and more. We often
begin to own other peoples’ expectations,
and we fall into the false thinking that we
are called to meet everyone’s needs and
fulfill their desires.
Tape this phrase to your bathroom
mirror: There is a Savior, and you’re not
Him! Expectations can overwhelm us and
take us to very dangerous places.
Isaiah 28:12-13 says:
He said, “This is the resting place, let
the weary rest”…but they would not
listen. So then the word of the Lord to
them will become: Do and do, do and
do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little
here, a little there so that they go and
fall backward, be injured and snared
and taken captive.
They are swept to a place they never
intended to go!
Be Still
So what’s the answer? Like the mountain
trout, we need quiet places to renew our
thinking, our strength and our direction.
We need times of rest. Many of us don’t
even know what that means anymore.
We need time to play! The best
definition of play is: an activity that serves
no purpose. Think of children playing with
their dolls and trucks.
We need time to be with our Lord. We
need to talk with Him but even more to
listen to Him. The more we struggle
against the currents of life, the less time
we spend with our Lord.
You will not change most of the currents
you face. You must learn to survive them.
Do not let them sweep you to the places
you never intended to go. Find quiet
places regularly! Spend sufficient time
there. You are called to swim against the
“I never thought I would wind up in this
position!”
The expression may refer to depression,
doubt, burnout, pornography, moral failure
or a hundred other surprising situations.
Somehow life and ministry carry us to
places we never wanted to be or even
thought possible.
It happens far too often. We enter
ministry with a passion for the Lord, then
long hours, criticism, high expectations,
even too many good things coming too
fast overwhelm us and sweep us to a
place we never intended to be.
If you think it can’t happen to you, you
are already in a dangerous place.
Still Waters
I love fishing for trout in the mountain
streams of Colorado. Trout live in
constantly flowing currents, which at
times rage and threaten to sweep them
through rapids, over waterfalls and off
the mountain. The currents can carry
them to places they never intended or
desired to go.
To survive, mountain trout have learned
to find quiet waters, behind a log or rock,
or in a pool off to the side where the
currents don’t flow. The trout cannot
change the currents, but they learn to
survive in them. In the quiet waters, the
trout renew their strength before reentering
the currents.
We live in currents, as well. Currents
are always there and sometimes raging,
threatening to sweep us to places we
never expected to go. Sometimes the
currents we face become so familiar that
we forget how dangerous they can be.
There are personal currents, family
currents, cultural currents, organizational
currents and ministry currents. What
currents most threaten you?
Still Trying
One of the major currents threatening
many of us in ministry is the current of
expectations. So many people want so
much from us. Most of the time these are
good people, but they will take everything
we have to give—and more. We often
begin to own other peoples’ expectations,
and we fall into the false thinking that we
are called to meet everyone’s needs and
fulfill their desires.
Tape this phrase to your bathroom
mirror: There is a Savior, and you’re not
Him! Expectations can overwhelm us and
take us to very dangerous places.
Isaiah 28:12-13 says:
He said, “This is the resting place, let
the weary rest”…but they would not
listen. So then the word of the Lord to
them will become: Do and do, do and
do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little
here, a little there so that they go and
fall backward, be injured and snared
and taken captive.
They are swept to a place they never
intended to go!
Be Still
So what’s the answer? Like the mountain
trout, we need quiet places to renew our
thinking, our strength and our direction.
We need times of rest. Many of us don’t
even know what that means anymore.
We need time to play! The best
definition of play is: an activity that serves
no purpose. Think of children playing with
their dolls and trucks.
We need time to be with our Lord. We
need to talk with Him but even more to
listen to Him. The more we struggle
against the currents of life, the less time
we spend with our Lord.
You will not change most of the currents
you face. You must learn to survive them.
Do not let them sweep you to the places
you never intended to go. Find quiet
places regularly! Spend sufficient time
there. You are called to swim against the
currents of this world. You can—if you
learn the lesson of the mountain trout.
currents of this world. You can—if you
learn the lesson of the mountain trout.
learn the lesson of the mountain trout.
