This will just be a quickie, as I realize I really need to get back into the habit of writing whether it's here, an overdue newsletter, or recording the amazing grace filled stories of the Thai believers God gave me the privilege of working with over the last couple of years.
I must confess, US life is quite a bit faster paced and more overwhelming in a lot of ways than life in Thailand. Although abroad we have access to a lot of your news and articles and internet buzz, most of the time we have to seek it out, type it in, go looking for it. Here, not so much. Here the news, the noise, the opinions, the stuff, the BUZZ is just EVERYWHERE, ALL THE TIME! Sometimes I feel like I'm inside the Temple Grandin movie!
It's dizzying, like I drank too much and then I realize that I DID! Of the noise, I've listened too much, read too much, watched too much, put out too much and drank in too much- information, STUFF overload! This is not a blog about how I'm going to fast from my phone, the internet, television, billboards, my ipod, magazines, newspapers, my kindle, the radio, books, blogs, social media, articles, movies, articles about movies, people, the voices in my head or any of it, or God forbid Netflix, although it's all something to consider throwing out the window. It's about where I've found clarity in the midst of all that swirls and swooshes and swoops around me constantly, all the time, it's about what silences what surrounds us, the inescapable buzz.
I have many, many bad habits, but I have ONE really GOOD one. ONE that brings clarity, peace, understanding, straightening, cleansing, sets me upright, restores, renews, comforts, inspires, encourages, transforms, heals and guides me. It's not a great therapist, 8 glasses of water a day, my best friend, it's not prayer, it's not fasting, it's not cross fit, it's not going to church, or Oprah or Joel Osteen podcasts, it's not helping others, or worship music, or yoga, or my mission's habit or even coca-cola. It's reading God's word, studying God's word, memorizing God's word.
I DO use guided Bible studies, but ones that systematically go thru God's Word because at the end of the day that's where the answers are, that's where the TRUTH is, that's where peace and clarity and an abundant life are found, in it's pages, in heeding it's guidance, it's very CLEAR direction for how to get thru all that swirls, swooshes, swoops, storms, and stomps around you today. This is my TRUTH. This is where clarity is found.