Slowing down

I’m going to Florida today at about 3:00. We’re driving, which thrills me because it’s slow. We’re going to a place that’s about 15 hours away and we’ll drive it over two days. I really look forward to stopping all the rushing. Even flying, which would get me to my destination in less than 3 hours, seems like too much of a hurry. Granted, I’d be able to start relaxing at the beach this afternoon instead of tomorrow evening, but the sacrifice is I’ll have to meet deadlines, timetables, schedules, and frankly, moving around at 400 mph, (while exceedingly stimulating), just seems like work right now.
I ponder our American lifestyle and reflect about all the anxiety and depression we as people experience. I wonder if we’re just stimulated beyond our design and cramming too much into our life. In the name of efficiency, we do more in less time and marvel at how much we get done.
John Eldredge in his book Wild at Heart, spoke of how in the bible, God ‘meets’ men in the wilderness, outside of their normal environment. I’ve found this to be true. Often, when I am away I seem to ‘hear’ a little better. So in a couple hours, when the bags are loaded, the car is washed and filled up, and the instructions for feeding the dog and fish are gone over one more time, I’ll punch out, take a deep breath and hit the road, me, my beautiful wife and Jesus. The three of us have an expectation that by slowing down, perhaps we’ll actually miss less.

I’ll post a ‘postcard’ from the beach but untill then click on this,

http://www.careerbuilder.com/monk-e-mail/Default.aspx?mid=29573490&cbRecursionCnt=1&cbsid=46f65f8f020f431f9ef9c988924fde45-288536867-wi-6

The Monkey