Former Blackout Artist

“Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” ~ Luke 5: 15-16

A day before leaving for the men’s ministry weekend retreat, I received the following message in an email from the ministry director: “Below, I have included my personal cellphone number. Please give it to your wife or family member so they have a contact number to reach you in case of an emergency.”

In other words, be prepared to untether from smartphones and unplug from social media and the news. The world already steals enough of our precious time, it’s not going to kill us to disconnect for a bit to reconnect with God.

Point taken.

My initial reaction was one of concern. I had a fairly serious matter involving my son happening around this time, and the thought of not having the ability to reach out to my wife periodically to check in on things back home made me rather uneasy. But I completely understood his reasoning and complied with his request.

During the weekend we would have periodic breaks between sessions. Another gentleman I had befriended at the event was with me during a 15-minute break one afternoon, and noticed me feeling around frantically in my pockets. I had instinctively reached for my smartphone, forgetting that I didn’t have it on me. He smiled and said, “Feels weird, doesn’t it? But I gotta tell ya – I’m actually enjoying the disconnect. It’s giving me a much-needed break from all the work-related phone calls.”

It did feel weird. Over the past decade of my life, my smartphone has seldom left my reach, with me pretty much 24-7. I can easily see the irony: a device that I spend several hours programming no sooner than I take it out of the box begins programming me over the coming days, weeks, and years.

But it’s not just my smartphone. Truth be told, there are countless other things each day that compete for my time and attention. Unfortunately, God often gets my leftovers.

And sadly, some days there’s nothing left over.

New York Times best-selling author, John Eldredge, in his book entitled, “Get Your Life Back,” reminds us this: “If you create a little bit of sacred space everyday, God will meet you there, and you will begin to love it.”

Despite not having ‘the world in the palm of my hand’ that weekend, I loved everything about my experience at the retreat. It helped me realize that God longs for something more than just a routine, token prayer each day and a Sunday visit at my church. He doesn’t want to be a box that gets ticked… He wants to spend quality time with me, without distraction and preoccupation. And not so that He can learn more about me, but that I can learn more about Him and experience His presence in my life in ways that I’ve never experienced before.

Jesus knew better than anyone of the urgent need to find a quiet place to be alone with God. Just prior to beginning his ministry, Jesus spent time alone in the wilderness, where the Spirit led him to be tempted by the devil, as he fasted and prayed for God’s blessing (Matthew, chapter 4). In Galilee, after a day of healing sick people, the Bible says that Jesus left the house early in the morning to find a desolate place to pray and be with God (Mark 1:35). After hearing the news of his friend, John the Baptist, being murdered by Herod, the Bible says that Jesus withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place to grieve alone (Matthew 14:13). Just prior to choosing his disciples, the Scriptures tell us that he went to the mountain to be alone with God and to pray (Luke 6:12-13). And finally, just hours before being betrayed and handed over to the Roman authorities to be crucified, God’s Word tells us that Jesus was in so much anguish that he went to be alone in solitude to pray, and his sweat “was like drops of blood” (Luke 22: 39-44).

A couple times per year, something happens. Maybe it’s a lightning strike from a severe thunderstorm, or perhaps a fallen tree limb in heavy winds, but the electricity goes out in our house. Fortunately it’s usually just an hour or so, but on the rare occasion it’s out for several hours. And when it happens, it generally occurs at the most inconvenient time.

But at some point the lights begin to flicker, and the operational hum of the heating furnace or air conditioner can be heard kicking back on. The power becomes restored, and a huge sigh of relief overcomes my prior uneasiness. All is right in the world again! When that happens, I don’t express my gratitude to the dozens of operable electrical outlets inside my house or the breaker box in my garage. No, I become thankful that the massive generator at the local power plant that supplies the electricity to my house has come back online again!

Jesus knew precisely where his source of strength and power came from. It came from His Heavenly Father, the Creator. And because he knew God was this source, he would find a quiet place where he could be alone with Him to connect, to express his gratitude, and pray.

Do we seek this little quiet, sacred space that Eldredge speaks of, untethered and unplugged from distractions and demands in life, where we can meet God and reconnect on a pure, organic level? Do we find time each day to disconnect from the world so we can connect with Him?

He is worthy of so much more than just our leftovers.