I Wanna Rock

After an eight day sabbatical and a one week vacation, I'm finding it sorta difficult to prepare for the weekend's message. An older man at the gym this morning said to me, "After all that riding on your motorcycle, you must have a hundred sermons ready to preach!"

I wish.

I did indeed ride my Harley Davidson 4,384 miles, through 13 states, over eight days. And it was an awesome time to be alone, reflect, think, meditate, and enjoy the Master's creation as I've never done before. However, although I spent much time in prayer, listened to the entire New Testament on my iPod, and worshipped with some amazing music and scenery,...I wasn't exactly 'sermonizing'.

This morning I decided to just quiet myself... and hang out with the Lord. Pray. Sometimes when I do this, I find myself slightly rocking back and forth. This rhythmic rocking reminds me of some of the "intercessors" I'd see at the hyper-pentecostal prayer meetings I used to attend. I say, "used to attend", because I don't find myself at those types of prayer meetings anymore. I found them unauthentic and tedious, and, I believe, my conversations with the Father were never meant to be like that... so I simply stopped attending.

But the "rocking thing"... has sorta stuck. Weird?

I have found that the Jews have a practice, called davening. For them, the rocking motion during prayer is a way of expressing that one's whole self, body and soul, is caught up with God. The movement of the body mimics the flickering flame of a candle, calling to mind the saying that "the candlestick of God is the soul of a man."

I do like the idea of "one's whole self" being caught up with God. In a sense, raptured [1 Thessalonians 4:17-18]. I know, I know... that's not what that particular word is supposed to mean. Forgive me. But how I long for moments now... in this life... where I am literally 'caught up' with God. Moments when I forget the stresses I deal with daily. Moments when I lose all sense of time. Moments when I just sort of 'wait' on God... and He strengthens me, encourages me, and holds me tightly as He whispers the things that truly matter in life straight into my calloused ears and hardened heart [Isaiah 40:31].

So today, I have a lot to get done. But right now... all I wanna do is rock.

See ya!