I apologize for my complete neglect of this blog to those who actually do faithfully follow what I write. I had an experience recently that took me "off the map" figuratively and then "off the map" literally that have made me actually realize how nice it is to get unplugged. Thus, I've been "off the blogging map" as well.
The figurative experience: I recently visited a friend of mine living in Iowa (I was attending a Board of Pensions conference at the seminary in Dubuque) and for those three days, I did not have any internet access. I was able to check email in the church where my friend works, but while I was in the actual 8-hour conference and in my friend's apartment, I was internet-less. And it made me realize (or reminded me, I guess) how NICE it is to just get away from the computer for a while. Since then I've felt much less tied to the computer and my tv. On Sundays, I give myself a "technology sabbath" which includes turning off the television and the computer for the entire day unless it is absolutely necessary for work. I've been reading, doing sudoku puzzles, sitting outside, and catching up on some quilting. It's been NICE to be unplugged.
The literal experience: This week I attended a new pastor's retreat that my local synod sponsors and we were at a camp grounds with, again, no technology. My cell phone worked, but I was without computer and television for three days. Instead of trying to figure out how I might check my email, I decided to use my free time on Tuesday afternoon to go for a walk. I teamed up with another pastor at the retreat and together we explored the grounds of the camp. We stopped first at the welcome center to get a map, and we picked a destination. We ended up walking in circles several times before we finally decided the only way to really get to our destination (a place called David's Tower) was to ignore the map and just follow the treeline. It wasn't really a great map to begin with, and even when we got to the tower we were still not really at the tower but rather at the base of another big hill with a sign saying "David's Tower." It took us a few minutes to figure out that we could juuuuuust make out the outline of the tower up on top of the big hill, but we elected to forgo climbing yet another hill as we had already been wandering around for over an hour.
And the hill leading back into the camp was monstrous. My thighs are still sore. It's a good kind of sore, you know? The kind where you're like, "It hurts, but the hurt means I did something productive with my body rather than just laying around."
Sometimes we get off the map and it's a good thing. It's good to get off the map and take a technology sabbath as a way to remind ourselves that the world around us isn't totally plugged in. We're incredibly reliant (myself included) on our technology, for better or worse. And when our computers crash or our phones fall out of the hoodie pockets into the toilet and suffer irreversible water damage, it's almost like our world is coming to an end for just that brief moment in time. Getting unplugged once in a while, taking that technology sabbath, reminds us that just because we're in the digital age doesn't mean we have to spend every single nanosecond of the day being digital. Write a card, for goodness sake, instead of an email.
Or actually write in a journal instead of an online blog. Yes, I see the irony here.
Sometimes we get off the map and it's not a good thing. When my fellow pastor and I were wandering around off the map looking for this tower, we didn't have much chance of being lost. The camp is not so big that we couldn't eventually run into the property line by the fence or the river or the highway. We were going to find a border that would tell us at least we were on the camp.
Plus he had a satalite on his phone that could get us back to our lodge if we needed it.
God creates a map for our lives and there are times when following the map is hard. Sometimes (some of us more often than others, perhaps) we think we have a better way of going. I'm one of those people who plugs in my GPS and actually tells the GPS, "No, I'm not going you're way. I'm going this way. You'll just have to reprogram and still get me there safely." God's map doesn't work like a GPS. When we try to reprogram it on our own, we get into trouble. When we allow the Spirit to move us and direct us to where God is calling us to go, it makes our lives so much simpler.
I know, I know you're cringing. It's hard to trust the spirit and those of you who really know me are thinking, "You're one to talk!" because I have the hardest time letting God do the driving in my life. I'm a control freak; I admit that freely. But I also know that those times when I am able to pray about it and spend some time doing spiritual discernment and hand things over to God...life really is much more simple.
And I like simple.
It's good to stay on the map. Sometimes we get off the trail and need a little help navigating our way back to the path that God calls us to, but for the most part, it's good to stay on the map. God gets us where we need to go when we trust in Him that made us. God is so good and we have been blessed in so many ways. My prayer for you is that you are able to spend some time praying and discerning where God is calling you and my second prayer is that you are able to go where God sends you.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Becki
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