{"id":4965,"date":"2020-06-01T17:27:25","date_gmt":"2020-06-02T00:27:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insideout.abbotsfordchristian.com\/?p=4965"},"modified":"2021-07-07T21:25:03","modified_gmt":"2021-07-07T21:25:03","slug":"disturb-us-o-lord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/2020\/06\/01\/disturb-us-o-lord\/","title":{"rendered":"DISTURB US, O LORD"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As these crazy and interesting times move from weeks to months (Lord willing, it doesn\u2019t turn into years), I think it\u2019s safe to say that we all have our own ways of dealing with the changes and new challenges that this pandemic has forced upon us.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We all have some sense of angst during these times. Yes, some of us show it more than others.<\/li>\n<li>We all wonder if the authorities have got it completely correct in terms of how they are responding and leading us through this crisis. Yes, some of us wonder more than others.<\/li>\n<li>We all know of family or friends who are either sick or immuno-compromised and we are concerned for their health and safety. Yes, some of us are <em>extremely<\/em> worried for them.<\/li>\n<li>We all struggle with the lack of a \u201chorizon\u201d during these times. Yes, some of us can live day to day and not think too far ahead, but for those of us who need \u201chorizons\u201d to look forward to\u2026we become weary.<\/li>\n<li>It\u2019s graduation\/commencement season and we all are connected to someone who is graduating (or maybe this is you)\u2014but what are they graduating towards? What is next for them? Their future is less clear. And yes, some of us are really bothered by this.<\/li>\n<li>We are tired of all of the overused phrases and\/or words out there, and some of us just want the following banned:\n<ul>\n<li>Unprecedented times<\/li>\n<li>Rapidly evolving<\/li>\n<li>This is the \u201cnew normal\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Social distancing<\/li>\n<li>Uncertain<\/li>\n<li>Essential<\/li>\n<li>Pivoting<\/li>\n<li>\u201cThis is not forever; it\u2019s just for now\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Toilet paper shortage<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>And finally, we all trust that God is in complete control. Yes, some of us even wonder what God is really up to during this time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In reference to the last point, someone I respect recently shared with me the following prayer\/poem from Desmond Tutu, with a nod to Sir Francis Drake. This poem has helped me in my wondering about what God may be up to\u2026perhaps it will be helpful for you as well.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Disturb us, O Lord<\/p>\n<p>when we are too well-pleased with ourselves<br \/>\nwhen our dreams have come true because we dreamed too little,<br \/>\nbecause we sailed too close to the shore.<\/p>\n<p>Disturb us, O Lord<\/p>\n<p>when with the abundance of things we possess,<br \/>\nwe have lost our thirst for the water of life<br \/>\nwhen, having fallen in love with time,<br \/>\nwe have ceased to dream of eternity<br \/>\nand in our efforts to build a new earth,<br \/>\nwe have allowed our vision of Heaven to grow dim.<\/p>\n<p>Stir us, O Lord<\/p>\n<p>to dare more boldly, to venture into wider seas<br \/>\nwhere storms show Thy mastery,<br \/>\nwhere losing sight of land, we shall find the stars.<\/p>\n<p>In the name of Him who pushed back the horizons of our hopes<br \/>\nand invited the brave to follow.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>We need God to disturb us at times in order to deepen our trust in Him. He always has a greater plan and knows what is best. Being part of his greater plan enables us to deepen our relationship with Him. As we grow closer to Him, he provides us peace in the storms of life\u2026and possibly even the stars!<\/p>\n<p>As we\u2019ve started up again in June (some of us) and then wind down again at the end of June \u2013 all of us at ACS pray God\u2019s blessings as you head into the summer months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As these crazy and interesting times move from weeks to months (Lord willing, it doesn\u2019t turn into years), I think it\u2019s safe to say that we all have our own ways of dealing with the changes and new challenges that this pandemic has forced upon us. We all have some sense of angst during these <a href=\"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/2020\/06\/01\/disturb-us-o-lord\/\"> [&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":4967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-4965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4965"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=4965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}