Be Still...

Be Still....

When I first heard the words “be still” I was a six year old playing in my grand fathers front yard. There was a mean goose named Gus who was a menace among all the other geese. He would chase us around and try to scare me and my two older brothers away from his territory. One time Gus cornered me by a tree, I froze in fear and the only thing I could hear was my dad yelling from afar “be still”. Sometimes our best move is to be still, but sometimes it’s also Gods will for our lives.

A few months ago I went to Haiti for a week long mission trip. I raised funds through private donations and went there to purchase things for orphans. I had big plans for my trip, I was going to change lives and turn around orphanages. God had a different plan.  The day I arrived, the missionary I was staying with told me he and his family had just moved into their own orphanage that day. As we pulled in I saw nothing but a bare house and a lot of workers busy preparing to turn this house into a home. The first day was pretty relaxing, we put together a few beds and I played some basketball with the local kids. The next day was rather slow, we went around buying some food and clothes and then I spent the rest of the day scrubbing down cribs, “God where is the excitement, where is the thrill?” That night I continued to pray for Gods purpose in my trip, I wanted him to show me why I was there. As I prayed the words “be still” echoed in my heart. The next day we continued to clean the house and buy more things for the orphanage with the money I had raised. In the middle of sweeping the floor I felt God tell me “be still”, it finally dawned on me that I was there to do his will, not my own. I was there to serve and my presence was needed.

That evening I helped the missionary couple, Doug and Joanne, who run the orphanage, put together a benefits package, employee contract and job requirements form, be still. After an hour or so we completed the documents, Joanne gave me a huge hug “I have been stressing out about this for months and you did it in an hour”.  I continued every day to ask God what I could do to serve him, before I knew it the missionaries were getting stressed out and I found myself taking time to sit down and talk with them, to encourage them, support them and remind them how God is so proud of the work they are doing, be still. It’s funny how a little command like be still, can make you do more work for God than we recognize, however we are here to do his will, not our own. In my mind I was being lazy and not much help but to the missionaries and God I was being a servant and a very useful one at that. Before I left for this trip I asked God to reveal what all He wanted me to do, thinking I had to plan everything out ahead of time, but sometimes we need to sit back, let God do the work and be still.

This past week I did something out of character. I canceled all my plans and made new ones. I had a weekend filled with ministry work and events but I began to feel like God wanted me to take make a change of plans. I felt bad but I told the friends I had plans with that I was leaving town. I was going on a ski trip with my oldest brother Josh, his wife Tara, my nephew Keagan and some other friends. I don't know why God would want me to do something other than ministry work but I know deep down I needed this time away. Our culture convinces us that the busier you are, the better you are doing, the happier you will be, this is not always true.

As I rode up the ski lift at Seven Spring resort in Pennsylvania, I began to pray "God why did you bring me here." A gust of wind picked up and I began to focus on the snow blowing off the tall pine trees, the snow began whirling around in the sky only to fall on a lonely skier tumbling down the side of the mountain. God does have a sense of humor. He knew I was stressing myself out, the things I once was passionate about became a chore, He recognized this and knew I needed to be still. As I got to the top of the mountain I looked down and became captivated by the beauty surrounding me, I had become so focused on doing doing doing, that I forgot to be still and enjoy the creation of our God.

If you ever go a day without noticing the beauty that surrounds you, the sunsets, the birds chirping and even if you choose to ignore the splendid beauty of how well orchestrated our world has been put together, I would encourage you to be still. God will sometimes do things to allow us to be still, for me it wasn't a time of illness, it was a time of vacation, one which I would have normally passed up to attend my obligations but God got my attention. He knew I needed time with family and friends, to sit back and stare in amazement at his creation. He knew I needed to be still and in doing so he restored my soul.

 

“Be still and know that I am God.” –Psalm 46:10