SUNDAY'S MESSAGE

Fleeing Distractions

"...submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." -James 4:7-8

I'm into distractions. I've practiced all my life. I'm really good at it.

During elementary school, junior and senior high school...rarely was my mind with my body inside the classroom. I was almost always somewhere else, distracted by my mindful imaginings.

Recently I was at a lunch meeting with my wife, Sheila, and my brother-in-law, Jim. Our guest at the meeting was a respected and learned man with an earned PhD, who had vast experience in church growth, organization, and mission outreach. We had arranged the luncheon meeting to "pick his brain" to discover any new ways to improve our own efforts at ministry. Somewhere in the middle of the conversation, I noticed that my mind had wrapped around an old song that was softly playing through the speaker above our table - the "background" music. I found my entire presence zapped back 42 years to another time in another place. I wasn't even listening to the words being spoken at my table. I was shocked. I quickly shut the oldie off in my head and refocused on the conversation. I asked a question to fill in the gap caused by my brief journey into la-la land.

God has called each of us to reach out to the persons in our world around us. Yes, we each have a sphere of influence - be it large or small. It's important to His kingdom and His call on our lives. I am convinced that there are active powers working very hard in their attempts to distract you and me from God's good and great purposes.

You're human and so am I. Perfection isn't possible. However, when distractions do grab at us, we can, over and over and over again, turn our backs on them and refocus on our God-calling. Distractions happen all the time. But, you don't have to simply accept them or surrender your will to them.

The next time you find yourself drawn away from God's call on your time, acknowledge your having become distracted and refocus your thoughts. The discipline to recognize that you've become distracted is the most important part of the refocusing process.