7 Reasons Christians Travel
Retreat
I went to record a show, but the DVR said that it was 99% full. If I set my show to record, it was either going to only record part of what I wanted or it was going to kick something out of memory randomly. What I needed to do was to go through the list of recorded shows and delete a lot of unwanted programming. In the hundreds of hours stored in the DVR’s memory are hours and hours of commercials. If I could just delete them I’d be set. I don’t know how to do that though. I’ll just have to deal with them in every show that I watch. There are a lot of shows still in the memory that I’ve already watched and will not watch again. I can delete them. There are also programs that I have set to automatically record. Some of these I want to keep, but some are repeats and some didn’t record properly. I’ll get rid of some of those. Why do I still have a football game I recorded two years ago? It was important at the time. Not anymore, just like these breaking news stories that pre-empted shows I was trying to record. Breaking news is now old news. Deleted.
Our lives are like DVR’s. Sometimes our lives are so busy and full of responsibilities that if we try to do one more thing, we will either not be able to fully complete it, or we will have to kick out some other program randomly. What we need to do is to go through and delete programming that we no longer need. Just like the DVR, we are bombarded daily with advertisements. We could recoup an amazing amount of time for ourselves if we could just delete all forms of advertising. I don’t know how to do that though. A lot of our daily lives is routine and repetitive. Our brains fill up with both necessary and unnecessary information. Some things we ended up doing automatically which can give us a moment to think, but this automaticity may go awry. More than once I have driven somewhere deep in thought, and upon arriving, discovered that I had automatically driven to a different place than I needed to go. Events and news that were relevant two years ago may be of no value today, but is still clogging up our brains. How do we download our brains?
We need to get away. Mark 6: 30-32 “The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told Him all they had done and what they had taught. Then Jesus said, “Let’s get away from the crowds for a while and rest”. There were so many people coming and going that Jesus and His apostles didn’t even have time to eat. They left by boat for a quieter spot.” Why would Jesus pull his disciples away from doing important work? Jesus knew that they were 99% full and that they needed to rest in order to continue to be effective. Jesus wanted to pull the apostles away from the crowds not to seek something else. A retreat is pulling away from something. Many churches have organized retreats. These trips are great for fellowship and for inspirational learning, but those are other labels for Christian travel. A retreat is a trip to a quieter spot. On a retreat we are able to download and achieve renewal when we eliminate distractions and shun modern conveniences and technology. You could get away to the desert, the mountains, a monastery, or even a long sea voyage. A retreat can be undertaken by a group, as Jesus was advocating for in Mark 6: 30-32 or solo as Jesus did several times. The story of Jesus walking on water takes place because the apostles were in a boat at sea while Jesus went alone to pray in the mountains. He walks on water on his way back to join them.
On a retreat is the only time I agree with the idea of travelling alone. All other types of Christian travel are enhanced by travelling with a group. Even a retreat can be made as part of a group, but the object is to get away from stimulus. So at some point, you need to find a quieter spot. How long it takes to download depends on how much there is to download; a weekend helps a little, a full week is better, how about forty days?
Jesus grew up in Galilee which was a place where many gentiles lived. Jesus began His ministry in Capernum on the shores of the Sea of Galilee amongst these many gentiles. However, before this, He was baptized by John in the Jordan River and then spent 40 days in the desert fasting and praying. Did Jesus need forty days to detox? I’m guessing that He didn’t need it, but He was setting an example for us. At the end of the forty days Jesus was tempted by the devil. His response is an example and instruction to us. First, Jesus was washed and filled with the Holy Spirit. The He retreated to the desert for forty days. Then He returned to Galilee to spread hope and inspiration.
Our lives are like DVR’s. Sometimes our lives are so busy and full of responsibilities that if we try to do one more thing, we will either not be able to fully complete it, or we will have to kick out some other program randomly. What we need to do is to go through and delete programming that we no longer need. Just like the DVR, we are bombarded daily with advertisements. We could recoup an amazing amount of time for ourselves if we could just delete all forms of advertising. I don’t know how to do that though. A lot of our daily lives is routine and repetitive. Our brains fill up with both necessary and unnecessary information. Some things we ended up doing automatically which can give us a moment to think, but this automaticity may go awry. More than once I have driven somewhere deep in thought, and upon arriving, discovered that I had automatically driven to a different place than I needed to go. Events and news that were relevant two years ago may be of no value today, but is still clogging up our brains. How do we download our brains?
We need to get away. Mark 6: 30-32 “The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told Him all they had done and what they had taught. Then Jesus said, “Let’s get away from the crowds for a while and rest”. There were so many people coming and going that Jesus and His apostles didn’t even have time to eat. They left by boat for a quieter spot.” Why would Jesus pull his disciples away from doing important work? Jesus knew that they were 99% full and that they needed to rest in order to continue to be effective. Jesus wanted to pull the apostles away from the crowds not to seek something else. A retreat is pulling away from something. Many churches have organized retreats. These trips are great for fellowship and for inspirational learning, but those are other labels for Christian travel. A retreat is a trip to a quieter spot. On a retreat we are able to download and achieve renewal when we eliminate distractions and shun modern conveniences and technology. You could get away to the desert, the mountains, a monastery, or even a long sea voyage. A retreat can be undertaken by a group, as Jesus was advocating for in Mark 6: 30-32 or solo as Jesus did several times. The story of Jesus walking on water takes place because the apostles were in a boat at sea while Jesus went alone to pray in the mountains. He walks on water on his way back to join them.
On a retreat is the only time I agree with the idea of travelling alone. All other types of Christian travel are enhanced by travelling with a group. Even a retreat can be made as part of a group, but the object is to get away from stimulus. So at some point, you need to find a quieter spot. How long it takes to download depends on how much there is to download; a weekend helps a little, a full week is better, how about forty days?
Jesus grew up in Galilee which was a place where many gentiles lived. Jesus began His ministry in Capernum on the shores of the Sea of Galilee amongst these many gentiles. However, before this, He was baptized by John in the Jordan River and then spent 40 days in the desert fasting and praying. Did Jesus need forty days to detox? I’m guessing that He didn’t need it, but He was setting an example for us. At the end of the forty days Jesus was tempted by the devil. His response is an example and instruction to us. First, Jesus was washed and filled with the Holy Spirit. The He retreated to the desert for forty days. Then He returned to Galilee to spread hope and inspiration.