Apprentice 2 Jesus

A Testament of Devotion

This slim book by Thomas R. Kelly is explosive. Written in 1941 by a Quaker teacher, this book draws us into the practice of the presence of God. I am going through it during three days of fasting and prayer. My heart is needing to be stirred, and Thomas Kelly is stirring me!

There are so many quotes to be mulled over, but this one is huge right now:

“I wish I might emphasize how a life becomes simplified when dominated by faithfulness to a few concerns. Too many of us have too many irons in the fire. We get distracted by the intellectual claim to our interest in a thousand and one good things, and before we know it we are pulled and hauled breathlessly along by an over-burdened program of good committees and good undertakings. I am convinced that this fevered life of church workers is not wholesome.”

In 1941 what in the WORLD could distract someone in a 1000 different directions? There was a world war going on…that’s ONE… and it’s huge. And here is this guy talking to ME in my ADHD world of cell phones, computers, internet, and THOUSANDS of stimuli that attack me every day in every way possible!

The call is to be faithful to a FEW concerns. As one friend counseled me years ago (and then I ignored him a few years later), “You can’t boil the ocean.”

Learn what God has for me and focus. During these three days I need to hone in on what God has for me, for this church, and how I am to proceed. Now… I need to go check my email, my voicemail, my blogs, my facebook…