Call a Timeout!

Whew!  Do you ever just want to call timeout?  Stop the world for a little while until you could get your thoughts back together?  Just pull off the road and park your little self until you’re ready to continue on with your journey?  Do you ever think, “Who do I see to call a timeout”?

In the sports world, when one team begins to overwhelm the other, the coach, or one of the players, will signal the referee that they want a timeout.  They take the time allotted to regroup and settle themselves so that they can continue the contest without being embarrassed.  Now I know God is not to be compared to a referee, but like the referee who has the authority to stop or continue the game, God is in control of our lives.  But also like the referee who doesn’t call a timeout for the players, God leaves the calling of timeouts in life up to us.

How many times in the Gospels do we see Jesus ‘calling timeout’ in His life and the lives of the Apostles (Matthew 14:13, Mark 6:31-32, Luke 4:42, Luke 9:10)?  Maybe we should stop (call a timeout) and think about that for a little while.  But we would say, “I can’t, there too much going on in my life!  All these things won’t get accomplished if I stop doing what I’m doing!”  But ponder that for a minute (short timeout).  Maybe that is part of the problem.  Maybe we’re so busy we can’t even catch our breath.

I read of a pastor who decided to take one day off (Friday) and not do anything.  No cell phone, no email, no contact with the world.  Just about drove him crazy at first.  Waves of guilt, depression, worry over things that he was supposed to do, just plain anxiety over not doing anything.  WOW!  But he’s no different than me or you, pastor or layperson, doctor or lawyer, or Indian chief.  But you know what, instead of continuing to go nuts, his life began to calm like the waves after a storm has blown through.

You say, “I can’t do that.”  Really?  Try this, cut a few things out of your schedule that aren’t that important.  Take a little time to be with yourself (and God, He’s there).  And most of all listen for the noise to die down around you as God gives you His peace.

Vance Havner, an old Baptist Evangelist of yesteryear, said this, “We need to come apart before we come apart”.  Wise words aren’t they?  Just go ahead, do it, call a timeout.