Thin Places

We've been enjoying a refreshing and challenging study with the use of Mark Batterson's "Wild Goose Chase". In Chapter 3, "The Dictatorship of Ordinary: Coming out of the Cage of Routine", Batterson discusses what Celtic Christians referred to as thin places. These are places where we have unmistakable encounters with God; moments in which He reveals Himself to us in a powerful, personal way. It can be in the most unremarkable places during times when we might least expect. Take Moses, who had been tending sheep in the desert, day in and day out, for forty years. One day God decides to reveal Himself in a bush; a bush that is set ablaze but doesn't actually get burned up. 

Later in the chapter, Batterson shares an experience of his own where while on an early morning prayer walk he gets the answer to a question He had recently asked God: "What do You want me to do with my life?" At the time, Batterson was a nineteen year old who had just completed his freshman year at the University of Chicago and had decided on a major, yet wasn't really sure what he wanted to do or what God had purposed for Him. That he was on an early morning prayer walk is no small detail; it was a departure from the norm of sleeping later, probably when or after everyone else had gotten up. Also, this ocurred on the last day of the final week of summer break. On this day, in a cow pasture, God speaks to his heart- not audibly, but unmistakably. He says he knew in his spirit, then and there, that God wanted him to go into full-time ministry. The details of when, where and how weren't to be revealed and realized until years later, but it was the critically important start of a journey.

I've already read this chapter but I've been looking back at it because it speaks to me a great deal. Though I'm considerably older than Mark was at the time, I'm in need of an answer from God to the very same question. It's not that I haven't asked it of Him before; it's just that I've not been able to discern His answer. And I tend to think it's my lack of discernment- my lack of listening, hearing or seeing, rather than His being silent.

I find myself challenged to break away from routine, not that routine itself is bad. It's when routine has become so ordinary that's the problem. For me, establishing a regular, quality, quiet time with the Lord is something I've thus far been unable to do. Sure, I have devotional time in prayer and in the Bible but not consistently. I'm thinking maybe it's time for me to finally establish this for God's sake- literally. To make the sacrifices necessary for me to be able to have this time with Him because I love Him and He is worth it. Why should I expect God to answer my question ("What do You want me to do with my life?") outside of an intimate, vibrant, growing relationship with Him? 

Perhaps it's time for me to finally establish a routine. For me, this would represent a change of routine. And then, maybe through or within that, I'll be able to discern God's answer. Or maybe it will be a departure somewhere within the discipline. It's taken me a long time to reach what seems like the beginning. It seems like it shouldn't be the beginning but I guess in way it is. Before me is the first step of a journey. The choice for me is whether I want to begin something new and exciting or continue the sort of alright, ok, "same old, same old". I believe my answer and resulant action or inaction will determine whether or not I finally get THE ANSWER I've been looking for.