Rest and Recovery

I have a good friend and former co-worker who is a marathoner. He is in outstanding physical condition. He was the one who inspired and trained me for my first marathon. A couple of years ago he came to work limping. It turns out that he had a stress fracture from overuse. I couldn't fathom how someone in such great shape could have an overuse injury. That is an injury that under-trained people get when they do too much too soon. Then, last week, I pulled a ligament in my knee. I had only slightly intensified my workouts, but it was just enough to warrant the injury. I took a week off. Pampered my knee with ice, heat, motrin, elevation, and rest. This morning I took an easy 2 mile jog and felt great. I'll take another day off and try another 2 in a couple of days. I'm going to ease back into it so that I don't re-injur it and have to take more time off to heal.

I was thinking about this in context of my spiritual life and my involvement in church activities. I've seen so many people (including myself) become burned out, frustrated, and disillusioned with "the church" that they not only walk away from the church, but from God as well. We become so entrenched in the activities of the church that we forget the reason why we've involved ourselves in God's work. At some point, we just run out of gas. My time running is my alone time with God and my time to fuel up. I listen to scripture, worship, and pray. While that time is vital, it is also important to understand our limitations as humans.  When I'm running a marathon I burn about 2600-3000 calories and about 3-4 liters of water. Not only does this mean that I have to properly fuel up BEFORE the race, but I have to replenish DURING the race as well. But the good thing is that the marathon is finite. It has a finish line. Then, I take a couple of weeks off to recover. Since not everyone is a marathoner, let me put it another way:   If I'm driving across the country and stop every 100 miles and put $5 worth of gas in the car, I'm eventually going to run out of gas.

The time that we spend with God fuels us to do His work. If we don't properly maintain the vehicle (our bodies, minds, and spirits), we will run out of gas or worse. Think about what happens to your car if you don't change the oil regularly or rotate/balance/align the tires. That time we spend with God has to be in balance with the time that we are involved with ministries.

So, what does a vehicle that needs some maintenance look like? For those of us who are volunteers in ministry, I would look for a few things:

1) Frustration - we all have some degree of frustration with the ministries we are involved in. That's why we try to make things better, more efficient, more Christ-centered, less business-like, etc. I know some of those things seemed to contradict each other, but contextual application applies. The breaking point is when we are more frustrated than fulfilled in the ministry. Frustration leads to anger. Anger leads to...

2) Bitterness - This one is a red flag! One of the blessings and curses of being involved in ministry is dealing with people. We, yes, even Christians, are very flawed. We are just as selfish, arrogant, possessive, and controlling as the rest of the world. Dealing with those people (assuming that you've done the proper amount of self-examination to determine that YOU aren't that person) can be especially aggravating and can really drive volunteers out. Express your concerns to the leadership and come up with a viable solution. Be prepared for that solution to be you leaving that area of ministry or even that particular church.

3) Disillusion - This one is REALLY bad. This is the one that not only drives people away from the church, but away from God. This is where we blame the problems of the church on God. We see Christians hurt other Christians and decide that if this is how the "family" of God treats each other, then we're better off in the world. If this behavior is representative of the God we serve, then we're better off in the world.

Unfortunately, not only have I seen this many times in the church, but I've experienced it first hand. I never got to the point where I've walked away from God, but I've come pretty close. I had become so frustrated and bitter about some things that were going on at my church that I was begging God to let us leave the church. I had stepped back from all of the ministries I was involved in, but I was still watching them do things that I so passionately disagreed with. I kept asking God to let us leave. His response kept coming back, "Changing the scenery isn't going to change your heart." So, I continued to occupy a pew...and little more. I had stopped reading my bible, listening to worship music, even praying. I hadn't left the church, but I hadn't changed my heart either.

Fortunately, it didn't take a Demascus moment or a major breakdown to get me to realize what was happening. I just didn't like feeling the way I was feeling. I missed my previous relationship with the Lord. Like a runner recovering from an injury, I started out slow. I began to pray and seek. God started to reveal Himself more and more to me. I didn't immediately jump back into the race. I didn't get back into any kind of ministry for several months. I needed to "get back into shape". I needed to have a right heart, properly trained, and fueled. What I found was that God gave me a burning passion for an area of ministry that I hadn't planned on. It wasn't the area that had originally burned me out.

The thing to remember is that this is a marathon, not a sprint. Keep in mind that a marathon has a finish line. We say that the race isn't over until we've received our reward in heaven. True. But I would encourage people who are involved in ministry to put a timeline on the area you are involved in. When that mile marker has passed, evaluate whether you want to stick with it or is God prompting you to another area? When you finish with one marathon, take a break. Recover. Refuel. Then start training for the next one. Maybe He is prompting you to only do a  half-marathon or a 10K next. Maybe, He's prepping you for the Ultra! Maybe, He doesn't want you to run at all. Perhaps He wants you to start cycling or swimming or all three! Keep your enthusiasm for service fresh and motivation new. Don't pigeon-hole yourself into doing only one thing. What will you do if you get burned on that one thing?

Okay. This is kind of long for my first post. Future posts probably won't be that long.