I used to be really good at resting.

I rock climbed, mountain biked, went running.  I went to movies, read books, relaxed at home.  Then I got a job!  It became a lot harder when I was no longer a student.

Add to that that pressures of family life – marriage and children – and it’s even harder to rest at all, much less daily, weekly, yearly and beyond.

So how do you carve that out and protect it?

We asked Jerry, a friend of RTC and a business owner, how he does it.

Be sure to catch his interview on video or audio.

For Jerry, maintaining daily, weekly and less frequent rhythms of rest is a witness to others – they know when your store is closed, and it says something about the values of the family behind the business.   It also teaches his family what’s important to him and his wife.  They are not just about money, there is much more to their life.

Challenge: Find at least four other people in your line of work, and ask them how they handle their need for rest, leisure and restoration.  Ask them how that looks on a weekly basis, and throughout the year.  Then ask them to keep you accountable.

Ryan Sim - June 13, 2013

Thursday - Act On It - Needs

Sermon on the Mount

We are encouraged to prayer persistently and confidently for alignment with God’s will. Persistent Jesus spoke about prayer this week in the present, not past tense. It sounds like prayer is meant to continue, not simply be a one time event. This is not because God needs convincing, controlling, bribing. It’s to help us learn to adjust ourselves to God’s timing. Confident We are not to pray as people distant from God, but out of relationship with a loving parent, where we are learning to know and trust his will. Reliant on God’s will The best prayers end with “Thy will be done.” When our prayers line up with God’s will, they are working as intended. We could illustrate this with a compass. A compass works best when it’s allowed to swing freely and line up with Earth’s magnetic field. We can prevent this by holding the compass needle backwards, but it takes energy, and when we let go, we see it was all in vain as the compass needle returns to neutral. When our prayers don’t line up with God’s will, they are fighting an irresistable force, but our prayers are best when we tell God what we want and need, but are willing to let go and let him lead us. Prayer is about learning to point toward God’s will, rather than forcing him to point our way. Challenge: Think of and share an area in your life where you are being called to persistent, and confident prayer for God’s will? Ask a friend to pray with you. And tomorrow we’ll practice again. 

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