Godspeed: The Pace of Being Known
The Ranch Studios: Danny Lund
https://vimeo.com/theranchstudios/livegodspeed
One of the opening lines of the video, “If you want to walk like Jesus, you have to slow down.” Every city has a unique pulse and speed. In the city, there also seems to be an urgency to get things done and to accomplish something--to be successful; and when we aren’t doing something exciting and if aren’t working towards some goal we often feel inadequate--even guilty. Others may think there is something wrong with us. Spiritually, if we’re not feeling great emotionally about our faith, about God, about church and about life in general, we feel that something must be wrong.
The video Godspeed is a reminder that if we want to walk like Jesus, to experience the life and what it means to be human, we need to slow down. 3 kilometers an hour. And in walking like Jesus, we slow down to really get to know people--really know people and their stories but to also to allow others to know who we are; knowing means to know each other as persons created in the image of God, to know each other’s fears and aspirations, our insecurities, our struggles and our hopes. The thing is, relationship is organic and it can’t be structured; when we try to force it, or if we have an agenda in mind--trust is broken even before the relationship begins. The foundation of church is on relationships (relationship with the Triune God) and the embrace of the each other. Slow down. Slow down. Slow down. And in walking like Jesus, at Godspeed, we will experience God when we in fact “slow down so that we catch up to God.” This is what I am learning to do; and personally, it starts with being--who we are: a child loved, forgiven, and reconciled with God our father.
While work is important to God and our work indeed matters, we also need to be reminded that the work is not the end in itself. God is to receive all the glory. We are building FOR the kingdom--we don’t build it. We also have be careful not to be doing for the sake of doing; or doing because of someone else’s expectation for us. Don’t get trapped in the frantic whirlwind of doing or keeping yourself busy. In my experience, that only leads to burnout--work becomes meaningless. In other words, work with purpose and intentionality. As an aside, occasional reflection on where you’re heading, what problem are you trying to solve, our strengths and values, how do I make a difference to the situation, and so forth can help us re-calibrate. Another tool is to think about what are some things in your schedule you need to stop doing, start, or slowdown? There is nothing wrong with slow--slow is good and imagine what life would be like if you began living and working at Godspeed.