"How do I start a YouTube channel?"
"What editing software should I use?"
"Do you know any Bible verses about fear?" 

If the answer can be found from a simple Google search, then we're not seeking advice, we're stalling. We're stalling because we don't really want the answer as much as we want to use our ignorance as an excuse for inaction. We're not seeking answers, we're seeking an excuse.

I don't write because these questions waste my time.
I write this because these questions waste YOUR time, and I care about you all too much to let you do that.

If it can be Googled, then it should be Googled. You'll get your answer much faster, which means you can start working much sooner. 

Today is a day off.
I know that may sound like a foreign concept to some, so let me explain.
You see, today, I choose not to work.
Today, I choose to rest, to sleep in, to sit on the couch, and to not check email.
Today, I choose to spend the entire day in my pajamas.
I choose to watch TV.
I choose to take a nap after lunch.
I choose to refuse to get caught up in, “I should be doing something.”
Today, I choose to rest, hopefully in Him.

​You may scoff at this post and say, “Wow, wouldn’t it be nice to have that luxury.”
The truth is though, time off is not a luxury you have, as much as it’s a luxury you make.

In today’s fast, connected, 24/7 world, I find that it takes more discipline to rest than it does to work. But it is in the resting that we re-fuel, reflect, and re-ignite our passion for the work. 

The car that goes as far and as fast as it can without stopping for an oil change may go pretty far in the short term. But the car that makes regular stops for check ups and re-fueling, that car could last you a lifetime

Yesterday, I did something I've never done before.

I created something.
I tried something new.
Then I got on a stage and shared it with a group of people.
It could have failed, yes. In fact, parts of it probably did. But in that moment, I was an artist. I was noticing, making, and sharing.

Far too few of us can say that we enter into our work everyday with Seth Godin's famous thought of, "This might not work." Far too may of us have become copy machines, rather than printers and fax machines. Far too many of us are simply spewing out the same thing over and over again because it "works" and it's "comfortable". However, the artist does not settle for what's comfortable. The artist spends her time not only creating new things that have never been seen before, but then also sharing them with her community. 

When's the last time you sat your butt down to create and said, "This might not work." It is in that moment that you're finally getting somewhere.

The theme of the retreat I spoke at last weekend was "Relentless: Pursuing Christ at all costs". And when I think about my life, I think of a story where God has been constantly pursuing me, even when I'm not pursuing him.

And because I couldn't help myself, I decided to take a look and see if there were any other people God pursued.

God pursued Adam and Eve into the middle of a garden
God pursued Noah in the middle of a storm
He pursued Samuel in the middle of the night
and Silas in the middle of a prison

God pursued Jeremiah through beatings
and Jacob into a wrestling match

God pursued Abraham til he was old 
and Timothy even though he was young

He pursued the rich man in his wealth
and the widow in her poverty
He pursued Paul to blindness 
and the blind man to sight
He pursued Thomas in his doubts
and Nicodemus in the dark

God pursued David to Goliath
Matthew despite his God
and Lazarus to the grave (and back)

He pursued Mary in her brokeness
Martha in her homliness
Sarah in her barreness
and Leah in her lonliness

God pursued Samson in hig strength
Moses onto the mountain
Solomon into a song
and God pursued Job even without joy

He pursued the Samaritan woman at the well
the Israelites into the wilderness
Hagar to the water
John the Baptist even though he was weird
Joshua in a whisper
Elijah in a whisper
and Jonah in a whale

God pursued Joseph in a famine
Naomi without a family
Daniel in a fast
His friends into a fire
and me without a faith

I'm not trying to put myself in company with these people, but if you look at every single on of them, God pursued them because he wanted to use them and he did.

God is pursuing you, not only because he loves you, but because he wants to use you.