Interrupted Series

How many of you remember the movie speed? Keanu Reeves, Sanda Bullock, Dennis Hopper? Dennis Hopper plays this bad guy that has rigged a bus with a bomb. If the bus falls below 50 miles an hour, it explodes. if they try to get anyone of the bus, it will explode... Keanu plays the cop who is trying to figure out how to save the day - it’s a fast paced action movie on adrenaline - you have to keep moving, keep going, or you die... Funny thing is that many of identify with that movie - our lives though are at 90 miles an hour instead of 50!

The truth is though, that I am sort of an adrenaline junky. There are a bunch of days where it feels like if I slow down, I’ll explode, I know that living frantic isn’t good for me, but truthfully, life in the slow lane is really boring... One thing I’ve noticed though, it’s real hard to make sure the important things get done if I’m busy - If I hurry I often miss the important stuff.

We’ve been talking in this series about losing the fake stuff, losing the t-shirt, and getting to something real. Well tonight we look at allowing God to focus us on what really matters. Allowing God to interrupt us...so that we really learn to live.

In Luke 10, this guy comes up to Jesus and asks , What do I need to do to have eternal life... Jesus turns the conversation back on him and says, well, what do you think? He says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself - ...and Jesus says, “Do this and you will live.”

You think about it for a second. How many of us really live? Love God? Love others? When do I have time for that?? When you live life at 90 - or 150 - it’s almost impossible to love God and love people...

But you know, if you look at the life of Jesus - you see this modeled. You think about it. Jesus was probably the most alive guy there ever was - but one thing you never see is Jesus in a hurry! As a matter of fact, you never even see Jesus rushed. He had a very pressing schedule, but he always had time for someone, and often the very people everyone else missed, Jesus saw...

Theologian Kosuke Koyama, (read quote from page 115)

3 miles per hour... Maybe that’s why we have such a problem getting to know God, we are moving at 90, and he is moving at 3 miles an hour...

A few weeks ago we did a lesson on slowing down, and as part of that study, we almost made a video of “a day in the life of Charles” I thought it would be funny to video me racing to work, racing to accomplish my meetings and get stuff done, racing to eat for lunch (by the way, our staff went to lunch last week in 33 minutes from driveway to the restaurant back to the office) racing home, racing to soccer practice, racing through practice, racing through dinner, racing through TV - I fast-forward if it gets too slow...

A few years ago though, I was with some friends of mine as they got some news that changed their lives. Pam and brent called me from the hospital when they found out she had a very advanced form of pancreatic cancer. Walking into that hospital room, was like time stopping... I watched over the next months as Pam went through surgery and treatment and eventually died. It seemed to pass so quickly. The final week of Pam’s life Brent stayed by the bedside of Pam. i would go over there every day and spend a few minutes... One of the days Brent walked outside with me and I asked how he was doing - he just said I want to spend every moment with her. This has brought us closer than we have ever been... Sometimes life has to slow down before you really live...

Some of you guys know I am a cyclist. A few years ago, some friends and I went to Iowa and did a 7 day ride across the state. It may have been the best vacation I’ve ever had... Every morning we would wake up, put away our tent, throw our bags on the truck, and ride 70 miles to the next stop. Then we would hang out and do it all over the next day... the friends that I went on that trip with were casual friends, but now we are old friends - we lived together and ate together and went searching for coffee together... You can really grow close if you spend time with someone!