Peace Be Still

Reflecting on “Being Still”

Colossians 3:15, And let the peace that comes from God rule in your heart.

This was a hard teaching for me to work on guys.

I remember in school there was a bully that I had to deal with. His name was Patrick, and Patrick was one of those guys who was like a 30 year old 5th grader! One of those kids who has been in 5th grade like 20 times and was like 7’9” tall and had lots of facial hair.

I remember one time when he pushed me and I pushed him back.

When two kids were going to fight in my day, other kids didn't try to stop it. Instead they yelled, "fight" so everyone else could come and watch.

I remember as the crowd came around when we were going to fight (or actually, I knew I was going to get killed), I saw a friend in the back gathering and I was hoping that he was going to help me out. But he didn’t. You see Patrick was bigger than him too, so he looked at me and rather than helping me, it was kind of like he was saying with his eyes, “Your own your own this time Ty.”

Sometimes we DON'T HAVE PEACE BECAUSE WE can see God and think He is like my friend who had good intentions, but had no power to help me. Sometimes we think that God may have good intentions, but He doesn’t have the power to help me. If God had good intentions, but no power, he is unable to come to our aid when we need Him.

Other times, we DON'T HAVE PEACE BECASUE WE may see God like the bully who had bad intentions and all the power in the world to end my life. We may recognize that God is powerful, but think that He doesn’t really like me anyways. If God had all the power, but bad intentions, we should be scared of him.

Now back to the fight (or beat down, whichever you want to call it). As the fight got started, Mrs. Oshiro, one of the teachers who everyone was afraid of, came barreling down the hallway. Do you guys have those teachers that everyone is afraid of? She was one of the most feared teachers at the school and she had ALL THE POWER and she had GOOD INTENTIONS (to save my life). The moment she came on the scene, the fight was all over. We need to remember that God has all the power to provide for us and all the good intentions or love to care for us.

Jesus is our friend, but He is not our homeboy. He is not our buddy. He is not lonely. He is not looking for friends on facebook, twitter, or myspace. He is our God and He is great all the time but there are so many times I don't have a peace with God or in my life..

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BIBLE COLLEGE PROJECT.

I must admit. This project appeared on the surface to be much easier than it actually was. I was challenged to sit for thirty to sixty minutes in light of the scripture Psalm 46:10, to “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be praised in all the nations; I will be praised throughout the earth.”

At first I thought, “I’ll take a ride on my Harley Davidson and enjoy God’s presence on the road.” As I rode home from class, I realized that my senses and attention needed to be very focused on what was going on around me so much so, that this would not be an appropriate quiet time. When I got home, I thought I’d sit in the kitchen and just “be”. I then realized that the dishes needed to be washed and that my wife would not be happy with me just “being” when there were dishes in the sink. I then sat by the computer and my mind began to race. “Maybe while I am learning to ‘be’, I’ll work on our bills and the home equity loan that I needed to get some additional information for.” I realized that would be too distracting as well. My mind wandered toward my ipad. Maybe as I am “being still” I should put out some tweets on Twitter or a facebook post in order to encourage others to do so also. Surely my facebook friends or twitter followers needed

to hear from me. “No. That would be occupying my attention too much too. No facebook. No twitter.” I decided that I needed to relax. “Some time on the xbox would surely relax me.” Quickly I realized that that would not appropriate for my quiet time either. Not at all! I figured that devotions would be the way to go. Besides, in the next few weeks I am going to be speaking on three occasions to two different youth ministries. Maybe I should study for that during my quiet time. I understand however, that study time, is actually quite different from my quiet time, so I realized that would not do. Next I thought I’d go for a jog for a few miles to get some silence, so I picked up my itouch and headphones so I could listen to a podcast or some worship music as I ran. That seemed to deter me from my mission to be still too. The result? I went outside to lift some weights and listen to the radio as I was “being still.” That didn’t suffice either. A radio blaring and weights being pushed took my focus away from “being” as well. I went to the bedroom next. I laid on my back, looked at the ceiling, stared upward, and thought, “Now I can be still.” The next thing I remember about “being still” was waking up about forty five minutes later and having to get ready for dinner… and the dishes weren’t washed yet!