BRAD POWELL ONLINE

Okay, so today’s my birthday. And, of course, the people who love me most have been hammering me about how old I’m getting. But, here’s the weird deal. It honestly doesn’t bother me…yet. (I have to be honest enough to admit that some day it might.) So, I’ve been thinking about why it doesn’t bother me while it does seem to bother others so much. Here are a couple of my thoughts.

Change is an unavoidable reality in life. Yet, it really messes most people up. It creates uncertainty, fear, anxiety, unhappiness, grief, etc.  The reason is simple. People generally find their security, identity, comfort, peace, and joy in circumstances that are stable and to their liking. So, when their circumstances change, they lose their entire footing in life.

Change eliminates the illusion that people are in control of their lives. This is why so many work and fight so hard to avoid any change. It moves them way out of their comfort zone. So, they do whatever they can to maintain a sense of control and the temporary rewards that come with it.

However, for those of us who are believers, change shouldn’t be so traumatic. None of these typical consequences of change have any basis in our lives. Don’t get me wrong. Change can be difficult for and hurt us as well. It can leave us with the profound sadness that comes with the loss of a job or, even worse, a loved one. It can significantly disrupt our lives. And, it can create great uncertainty. But, for the genuine believer, this shouldn’t leave us reeling for a couple of reasons.

First: Those of us who genuinely believe in God and His truth already know that life is uncertain and beyond our control. As James 13-15 says, “Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” When things change, it shouldn’t surprise us.

Second: Genuine believers don’t find their ultimate security, identity, comfort, peace, joy, or hope in their circumstances but in God.  Though everything in this world is only temporary and guaranteed to change, God never changes. Though nothing in this life, including life itself, is in our control, God is in control of everything.  So, when our faith and focus are on Him, it doesn’t matter whether our circumstances are constant or changing. Our lives are ultimately certain and secure because they are in His hands both now and for eternity.

It’s true that there is a lot of change that is negative in our lives. Sadly, many are presently experiencing this reality as the result of the economic crises. They’re losing their jobs, retirement savings, and, in some cases, even their homes. This is also true when we lose people we love or discover that we’re facing our own physical mortality due to a terminal illness…or a birthday. These are changes that can be devastating to us. However, as believers, even in the face of these kinds of devastating changes, we don’t have to grieve like those with no hope, (1 Thess. 4:13). After all, we know that, in a world out of control, God is in control. We know that He has promised that He can grow good out of every change we encounter…even the most devastating, (Rom. 8:28). And, we know that the suffering of this present time is not worth comparing to glory that God has prepared for us in heaven, (Rom. 8:18).

It is also true that there are a lot of changes in our lives that are instantly positive. Looking back on my life, examples abound. Meeting my wife Roxann. The day each of my kids were born. My call to become the pastor of NorthRidge. Seriously, each of these events brought significant change into my life, but it was profoundly positive change. Of course, there have been struggles, difficulties, and sacrifices in each of these relationships as well. But, those pale in contrast to the joy, meaning, and pleasure that they bring.

In fact, as I look back over my life, family, and ministry, the changes that I have faced, whether initially positive or negative, have most shaped my life. I wouldn’t be the man I am today or have any of the things that I value most apart from change.

So, here’s the bottom line. As believers, we should not fear or fight change as if it’s our enemy. On the contrary, our only fear should be losing God’s pleasure and our great fight should be to keep our faith and focus solidly on Him.

Sadly, many believers (and churches) fail in this regard. They fear changing circumstances in their lives and churches more than they fear failing to live lives that please God. They fight change in their lives and churches more than they fight losing their passionate desire to know, trust, and live for Him. This is why so many believers and churches aren’t experiencing the fullness of God’s presence, promises, and power in their lives today.  They are too busy seeking to preserve the life and church that they loved yesterday to pursue God’s best in the very new world of today.

My prayer is that this won’t be true of my family, church, or me. It’s my prayer it won’t be true of you. After all, no matter how fiercely we fight change, we’ll lose. In fact, the minute we start fighting change rather than fully trusting God, we lose. Let’s make the decision to experience the victory of being people of faith today rather than to experience the certain loss of seeking to fight the unavoidable change of tomorrow. Let’s fully trust God as we live life to its fullest in a world that is always changing. 1 John 5:4-5 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”

I’d love to hear your thoughts…whether it’s your birthday or not.

Final thoughts from my vacation about the value of time away.

Thought #5: It gives me greater traction in my leadership and communication.

I liken this to driving a car on ice or snow. When you start to spin the tires, you’ve got to let up on the gas in order to reestablish traction. The same is true in life, leadership, ministry, etc. By getting off the treadmill of my daily life, I am able to see where I’ve been spinning my wheels and wasting my effort. Then, as I reenter my daily life, I’m able to get a renewed traction toward my ultimate purpose and values.

Thought #6: It restores and refreshes my passion…for life, love, ministry, and people.

For example: Roxann and I have been married for 30 years as of this June. I love her supremely. But, our relationship can get a bit lost and unintentionally distant in the midst of our busyness. (Note: My secret to being able to invest so much time in ministry is found in the fact that Roxann is as much a ministry-aholic as I am.) Vacation allows us to remember what great friends we are; how much we enjoy being together (hasn’t changed since college); how we’re enough for each other, etc.

The same is true in every area of life. The routine and busyness can begin to rob us of our passion. This can also creep into our spiritual lives and passion for God. It’s a miserable and dangerous place to live. Getting away can cure us of this kind of passionless living.

Here’s the reality. Initially, it’s very difficult for me to pull away from my daily life. But, once away for a time, it becomes tough for me to come back. Of course, either one (work or vacation) out of balance becomes negative. The key is to find the healthy balance for you and be true to it.

Thought #7: It brings great value to the church.

• By allowing the team to stand on it’s own and be celebrated for their contribution

• By Allowing the church to be exposed to God’s work through different people, personalities, etc.

It is vitally important to the health of a church to see, understand, and know that the church is more than the senior pastor and/or a couple of highly visible and talented key players. It’s one thing for them to hear it said. It’s another for them to experience the reality. By taking some time away, I allow this to happen.

• It allows us to discover, develop, and experience gifted communicators.

I can’t tell you how hard it is to find communicators who can capture and keep the hearts and attention of thousands of people while moving them to understand and act on God’s truth. Many don’t have the gifting or ability. Those who do have a hard time getting the opportunities and experiences required for developing their gifts and abilities. By taking time away from teaching, I am able to provide the opportunity for this to happen.

• It allows the church to get the best of me.

The reason for this is obvious…“Caged Birds Don’t Fly.”

Because of my driven nature, I haven’t done a great job on establishing appropriate and consistent time away in the past. And, I honestly think that I’ve robbed God, my family, my ministry, and myself as a result. It’s my prayer that I’ll learn and practice a good balance on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis in the future.

I’d love your thoughts while I go back to resting and thinking.

Reading My Kindle 2 in Paradise

More thoughts from my vacation about the importance of vacations.

Time away is valuable because…

Thought #1: Time away helps to identify and cure developing dysfunctions in my life. (Read about this in Part 2.)

Thought #2: It breaks/disrupts the patterns that form in my life over time.

It breaks and disrupts patterns of thinking; studying; reading; daily routine; normal lifestyle experiences; etc. This allows me to assess and reassess my priorities, values, etc. It also allows me to grow in ways I never would otherwise.

Thought #3: It gives me space to…be me as a person…not a pastor, dad, friend, etc.

Of course, I love and enjoy all of these roles. However, the only way that I can bring my best to these roles is by being at my best. This requires remembering who I really am; what’s really important to me; and where I’m supposed to be going in my life. Time away gives me the ability to stay in tune with these vital personal issues.

Thought #4: It expands my world beyond its normal parameters.

It expands my world of knowledge, people, and experience. On vacation I tend to break out of my self-created ruts. I’m one of those people who can fall into the habit of eating in the same restaurants, ordering the same meals, spending time with the same people, reading the same kinds of books, following the same schedule, etc. While there are positives involved in this, there is also the danger of becoming stale and unchallenged.

On vacation, I tend to break out of this rut.

• I intentionally taste different foods.  (How many of you have tried or like escargot?)
• I experience different forms of entertainment.
• I meet and spend time with different kinds of people.

(Rox and I had the privilege of spending time with two couples every night during dinner for 2 weeks. Neither couple was one we would have met in our normal lives but we’re now better for having met them.)

Formal Dinner with New Friends

• I read different kinds of books. (I read 6 very different books during my 2 weeks away.)
• I get to see different kinds of cultures, architecture; scenery; etc.
• I have the opportunity to do different kinds of activities.

Getting Ready to Scuba Dive in Grand Turk

Bottom line: Time away stretches, enlivens, and motivates me. It helps this “caged bird” fly.

I’d love to hear some of your thoughts on this. Why not share some additional benefits you have found to time away or how you’ve experienced some of the realities that I’ve shared. I’ll be back in a couple of days with my concluding thoughts.

Thoughts from my vacation about the importance of vacations. (Read Part 1.)

Hanging out in Curacao

Thought #1: Time away helps to identify and cure developing dysfunctions in my life.

Developing dysfunctions like…

• Codependency – me to the church and the church to me

Of course, this is very unhealthy and damaging to both, and yet a very common occurrence. The reality is that, when I need the church to feel value, meaning, and/or significance, there is no way for me to be the leader they need. I will pattern my leadership to keep their approval rather than to genuinely impact their lives for God.  When the church develops an unhealthy dependency on the leader, they fail to put their full dependency on Christ.

• Loss of identity

This is where I literally become (lose myself in) my ministry and/or work.  By pulling away, it becomes obvious if I have begun allowing myself to be identified by what I do rather than who I am.  And, to be honest, this is normal for me. The first couple days of vacation I genuinely don’t know what to do with myself.  If left to develop, it really is destructive. However, simply getting away breaks this problem by forcing me to work on being me.

• Misplaced love

When I don’t get away frequently enough, I have found that I can start loving ministry over Jesus.  I develop a zeal for His work that’s greater than my zeal for Himself.  Though it’s subtle, it is both real and dangerous.  I find that my Bible time becomes more of a duty to fulfill than a desire to pursue Him; more directed to get something to give to others than to get something for myself; more motivated by my desire for God to bless my work than any desire to actually spend time with Him; etc.  Time away from ministry quickly and clearly reveals this problem and allows me to correct it before I become a disingenuous and dangerous spiritual leader.

• False sense of spiritual vitality

When I get away, I often experience an increase in and greater susceptibility to temptation.  The reason is obvious.  I’m achieving victory over temptation through busyness and activity rather than spiritual character and discipline.  Time away from the busyness highlights this and allows me to identify and wrestle through the issues I’m confronting in a spiritual way.

• Selfishness clothed in spiritual passions

When I get away, I have found an interesting reality.  I have a tendency to pray less for the church and ongoing ministry.  Why? Well, the only thing I can figure is that I have allowed my prayer life to support my gradual slide towards selfishness.  I pray because I want to look good and do well.  If I was really most interested in the church and those we were ministering to, I believe my prayer life wouldn’t change just because someone else is speaking or leading. Right?  So, though my passionate prayers for the church and services appear to be healthy, time away often reveals they’re not.

Obviously, time away is vitally important for me to identify these potential and very real dysfunctions in my life.  In my next post, I’ll share some more thoughts from my vacation.

But, until then, I’d love to hear from you.  Do you relate to any of the thoughts I’ve shared or are you aghast that a pastor like myself would be so messed up?  If you do identify, I’d love it if you’d share some of your thoughts with me.

Historically, I’ve not been good at taking enough time away from work and routine. Sadly, this has been true on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis.  And, the more “seasoned” I get as a leader, the more I have come to believe that this has been a costly mistake. The reason is simple…“Caged Birds Don’t Fly.”

I now believe that robbing myself of time away has dummied down my ability to think and ultimately lead and teach creatively, which has ended up robbing God and those I influence. In that the church is to be a reflection of the creator, I believe that it should be the most creative and innovative force on the planet. But, in most cases, it’s not. I believe one of the reasons is that we, as leaders, don’t give ourselves the space or margins necessary to unleash our God-given creativity.

This NEEDS to change for ME and YOU.
Exodus 20:8-10a – “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work…
Mark 6:31 – Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

As is true for everyone, it’s hard for me to pull away.  Yet, when I do, it ends up NOT being hard to BE away.  In fact, in the end, it becomes an extremely valuable investment with a ton of positive dividends.

In the next several blogs, I’m going to share some of my thoughts on this from my recent vacation.  To give you a head start on where I’ll be going, here’s the full list of benefits that I’ll be sharing my thoughts on. [Note: They’re in no particular order.]

Time away…
•    Helps to identify and cure developing dysfunctions in my life
•    Breaks/Disrupts established routines and patterns in my life
•    Gives me space
•    Expands my world
•    Gives me greater traction in my leadership and communication
•    Restores and renews me and my passions
•    Brings great value to the church

I’m curious…do you battle with creating the right kind of margins in your life? If so, you’re not alone. I look forward to wrestling through these ideas with you in the next couple of blogs.