Every spring and fall, I schedule time away for a study retreat. People always ask, “Did you catch any fish?” And if my work goes well, the reward at the end of the week, before I come home, is to visit a favorite pond for “hydrotherapy” for my spent soul. Many of my trips have ended without that, and that’s okay because the work of the retreat is not complete until the last day.

The focus of the time is quite different. I intentionally seek solitude and stillness in order to LISTEN. Most weeks are a dash of activity, but this week is completely different. I live very simply, silently, and sensitively. I think about that time before I go, collecting books, setting goals, and approaching it as an extremely sacred time. More than anything, I want to know the Lord’s leadership in my life and in the life of our church. Several times through the years, what I believe God has laid on my heart to teach in the future has become a “current event” by the time the calendar brings that to you on Sunday. Last week’s message is just one example of that. It blesses and astounds me.

This week, Ben and Chris will be preaching about the prophecies of the Hebrew Scriptures, and I hope you will be astounded at the vivid detail of Isaiah’s prophecy of the crucifixion of Christ. 700 years before the event, God revealed to Isaiah the vivid details AND the purpose of Jesus’ sacrifice. So that leads me to ask one thing of all of you who are part of our church family:

Pray for sensitive and attentive hearts to what the Lord wants to say to His people. And pray that it begins with the heart of the pastor.

I am so grateful for the calling God placed on my life almost 50 years ago, and I know it was impacted by the prayers of some people in that tiny church I attended. To have “Mrs. Faye” offer me to the Lord as a Sophomore in high school because she sensed the stirring of the Spirit in my heart–that is still precious and priceless to me. People spoke that same prayer for Ben, for Chris, and for Jansson. Some of you are speaking that about some of our students and young adults, and that is important work.

So this week, I look out over the months ahead, saturating my heart in scripture and scholarship, sitting still to listen, looking at the calendar of events that will unfold in the future, and the studying what’s happening in our community and culture, and my prayer is simple: “Father, what do you want to say to your people?”

Who knows what’s coming this fall or next spring? HE DOES! So pray, please, that the spiritual leadership of our church will be attentive and ready to hear what HE wants to say to us all.