Exiting The Merry Go Round

I loved merry go rounds when I was a child. The faster the better. I prided myself on running at full speed, hanging on tight and jumping on at the last minute. I loved handing over the rails backwards for an added thrill.

As an adult I cannot say I always enjoy the merry go round of life. I especially don't enjoy it when life it spins faster and faster and I feel more and more out of control. Life flies by. Where does the time go. When younger older people would warn about how fast time passes. I can't say I believed them. Now I know what they meant.

One day you look in the mirror and the hair is turning grey. hair grows out of your ears and nose, and muscles sag and joints ache with age. Brenda and I are in that in-between stage o life. We have one son in college, the second will be a senior this year, the third a sophomore, and the youngest is in junior high. The merry go round of life is traveling at warp speed it seems.

Birthdays come faster. School years fly by. Christmas comes around quicker it seems. There is a place where time seems to slow down and even stand still. It is a place where pressures, deadlines, demands, and appointments are put on the back burner, if only for a little while. The place I am referring to is the prayer closet.

Jesus kept a busy schedule. He traveled. He taught. He haled people. He built relationships with His closest companions and an extended circle of friends. He made Himself available to people. Yet, when I read about Him, it does not appear He was ever in a hurry. He did not live life on merry go round.

I love Mark 1:35. "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, He got up, went out, and made His way to a deserted place. And He was praying there." No matter how busy life and ministry were Jesus sought to part company with people to keep company with God in private. He intentionally walked away from the crowds, the noise, the and hustle and bustle to be alone with God.

How many today are spinning so fast life is dizzying? Is today the day you simply need to step off and step away from the crowds in favor of seclusion and solitude with the Father. It is when we are still in His presence and reminded of who He is that our troubled minds discover peace and we breathe in new life.

I don't know where life went. One day I played high school football for the mighty Lufkin Panthers. Next I donned the navy and gold at Howard Payne playing for the Yellow Jackets. The next thing I know Brenda and I got married and started having a bundle of little boys. Now I am classified as middle aged.

When I step away from my family and friends to find deserted spots to seek God; time seems to slow down. My peace increases. Challenges do not look so daunting. I must dwell in the secret places with God. We must all devote ourselves to those secret and sacred encounters with the Lord.

Let the world spin faster and wildly out of control. I prefer a slower pace and if I am to keep step with God it will mean I often exit the merry go round to be alone with Him. My heart is filled in those times.