Time to begin again...

THE VIEW FROM DOWN HERE…
Wednesday, 13 August 2008

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” – Matthew 11:28 (NIV)

Back in the summer of 1999, I was facing a major life change. We were preparing to move from Chicago to Minneapolis. I was leaving the company where I had been employed for a decade. I had said “yes” to God’s call to ministry. It was in the midst of all this turbulence and turmoil that I began E-ncouragement.

Life got quite busy. New job. School. Adoption. School. Teaching adult ed at our church. School.

In all the busyness of life (and, trust me, there are some weeks I think I may go mad with all the busy busy busy – way too busy - of life!), I have forgotten some things.

Important things.

Basic things.

Things I wrote about for almost nine years in E-ncouragement.

This summer, I have faced another set of major life changes. Traveling to China. Becoming first-time parents to an incredible toddler. Changing the emphasis in my master’s degree studies. Brett Favre flip-flopping between Green Bay, Tampa Bay and New York.

The stress of life has hit a fever pitch. Feels like 1999 on steroids.

It feels like the time is right to refocus. Now that the life decisions have been made and the course (somewhat, though certainly not entirely) set, it feels right to strip life down to the important aspects and focus on what I had lost sight of in all my goal-reaching and planning.

Seems like a good time to start writing again. A time to expand in teaching and ministering. A time to grow, and help others grow. There will still be stress, and very stressful times. There will still be busyness. But I need to learn how to stop and rest in the Lord. I need to not worry about the results, but only the task at hand.

And I believe I’m not the only one.

So… today, I pick up where I left off quite some months ago.

I pray you will join me on this journey as well. I won’t blog every day, but I will write on a consistent basis. It may be a struggle at first. But I pray and believe it will be a blessing.


© 2008 by Chris Courtney. All rights reserved.

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