Original Entry: June 10, 2008
McMinnville, OR
In his
pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for
God. Psalm10:4
The fool
says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does
good. The Lord looks down from heaven on
the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. Psalm 14:1-2
God looks
down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any
who seek God. Psalm 53:2
In a
recent argument/fight/discussion with Shanna, she finally blurted out, “You are
relationally challenged!” As soon as she
said it, she knew it was a punch below the belt but as I bent over in agony
from the low blow, I began to ponder her comment.
“You
know,” I wondered “I think I am stunted and slow when it comes to
relationships.”
Several
days later I approached two good friends, Matt Smith and Dale Collver, seeking
an honest answer to the question about my relational slowness.
After an
uncomfortable silence Matt spoke up, “Jim, when I come to you for advice, you
usually have an immediate answer . I can
process a question for weeks and in minutes you can give me the right
answer. But after that I wonder if I
become another task to check off your To-Do list. Have you ever thought of how you deal with
people in the second ten minutes?”
That was
it!
Finally I
had my answer.
I am great
at the ten minute foyer meeting and other superficial interactions. But once
that ten minutes if over I’ve got nothing.
My relationship skills go as deep as ten minutes and beyond that I am
reaching, reacting-praying.
Since that
day I’ve begun to work on the second ten minutes by allowing others to
end the conversation and allowing them to determine when our time together will
end. I have opened the blinds in my
office along with my door and my heart.
I have, no I am trying to, make room for people in my life after the
first ten minutes.
Men live
in a fast-paced-rush-hour world that often times reduce God to a simple task or
to-do item to be checked off on our calendar.
Instead of everything flowing out of God and into our lives we have
reduced our relationship with God to a time slot. Men have become so busy our relationship with
God gets snagged after the first ten minutes.
I believe
it was Martin Luther who used to pray two hours a day but when he had a really
big day ahead of him, he would pray for four hours! How opposite is that for men today? We pray for ten minutes and if we are really
busy we pray for two! Bill Hybels wrote
a book several years ago with the catchy title, “Too Busy Not to Pray.”
Psalm 10:4 tells us, “In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is
no room for God.”
The man of
God is the man of prayer. He is the man who always has room for his God. He not
only makes room for his God in the first ten minutes but leaves room for him in
the second ten as well.
