Pete Wilson is the pastor at Cross Point Church in Nashville, Tennessee. If you think this post rocks, you should read the rest of his blog!
Pete writes:
Let me tell you a little about myself. I’m a pastor. A husband. A father to three little boys. A friend. A Christ follower.
And I’m an addict.
I’m addicted to noise and chaos. I’m addicted to it in the kind of way that makes my life feel totally out of control and overwhelming at times.
And the worst part of my addiction is that I have recently realized that I don’t really “know” Scripture. Oh make no mistake about it. I can quote it, preach it, and debate it, but I’m not sure that I really “know it.”
And I bet I’m not alone. It seems as if we have been conditioned in our culture towards this addiction. We live in a day of unprecedented opportunities to stimulate our minds.
We have blogs, television, text-messaging and 24-hour news. We have iPods, satellite radio, and who could forget? Twitter. Everywhere we go there is some kind of message that is trying to attach itself to our minds.
We pretend as if the problem to knowing Scripture is a lack of access.
So, we have made the Bible more accessible than ever. We have dozens of translations. We have the Men’s, Women’s, and teens’ study Bibles. We have the camo Bible for the hunter. We have a Bible designed just for your purse. We have the digital Bible for your handheld or the audio Bible for your iPod. My favorite is the “waterproof” Bible that one publisher recently sent me.
Never has it been easier to access the Scriptures, but never has it been harder to absorb them.
Even if you’re taking time to read the scriptures, when do you have time to absorb them? When are you escaping the noise and chaos of your life?
And the problem is not what you think it is. You have time. You can make time. But you don’t. Why?
Because you’re addicted to the noise and probably even a little scared of what life would be without it.
Henri Nouwen wrote in “The Way of the Heart”…
“In solitude I get rid of my scaffolding: no friends to talk with, no telephones calls to make, no meetings to attend, no music to entertain, no books to distract, just me – naked, vulnerable, weak, sinful, deprived, broken-nothing. It is this nothingness that I have to face in my solitude, a nothingness so dreadful that everything in me want to run to my friends, my work, and my distractions so that I can forget my nothingness and make myself believe that I am worth something.”
I want to encourage you to take some time to drop your scaffolding and get naked. Run from the chaos and dial down the noise. I want to encourage you to quiet your life. Simply, simplify. Put yourself in a place where you can absorb God’s grace and love and message for your life.
What do you think?
Comments
49 responses to “Guest Blog: From an Addict”
I think I should go check out his blog.
I completely agree with what he is saying, but can I break the habit of constant info. and noise? I really like my Twitter, kwim?
Fasting from the Internet and all it entails would be a good place to start.
knowing vs. doing
knowing vs. believing
knowing vs. loving
knowing vs. giving
knowing vs. seeing
knowing vs. living
knowing vs. faithing
knowing vs. sharing
knowing vs. sacrificing
knowing vs. experiencing
knowing vs. hearing
i knew all that!!!
What a great guest blogger! Um, convicting. Revealing. Needed. Thanks, Anne, as always.
I think that I need to do this all the time. I’m a pro (or addict…) at having five things going on at once and not giving my full attention or doing my best at any of them. But I don’t seem to know how to just do one thing at a time without my mind racing everywhere else. So yeah, I really need to work on this discipline.
Thank you for the challenge.
About 2 months ago, I received an email from a close friend announcing that she was taking an “ONLINE” break. She contacted her internet provider and had her service suspended for 30 days.
My mind went into hyper-drive!!! I mean … how could she DO that. I certainly couldn’t … after all, I live my life online with my computer(s), everything I do is somehow connected to my computer and most everything to being “connected” to the internet.
I asked her how her 30-day break went. She said it was life altering. She found that she connected more with her family (the one that actually lives in her home). She exercised more, spent time with neighbors, spent more time in her prayer and meditation room, reconnected with God in a very pesonal way, etc.
So .. I found it strange this AM to read something from Pete ONLINE talking about his addition to chaos when I, like my friend, believe the time I spend ONLINE is feeding my addiction.
Still not sure I have the strength to cut the cord. (Yeah … the pun was intended!)
Such great wisdom from a young pastor! I’m so proud Pete and Crosspoint sponsored our church plant!
i have to ask God daily to show me any hindrances in my life that i need to get rid of…so i can “lay aside every weight”…so i can “run the race that is set before me”…like he said simplify, simplify…
as always great stuff from pete.
Excellent points! Thanks for the reminder…Love the quote!
I was just very happy to see him get some love over on your site. His vision and ideas are fresh and real. They’re full of truth that has been forgotten. They make people defensive.
Props for being real.
http://www.vagabondrunn.wordpress.com
I would rather know the Word than what all y’all are doing all day. Still, I gotta have my blog time during the day too.
My son and I had a discussion about that this weekend. We were at the discount book warehouse. He needed some info on a particular religious group. He said, ” dad they believe some of the same things we do, what makes the difference in their book and the bible?”
Wow! Those are challenging times when dealing with inquisitive minds. So, we took a few minutes and looked thru the books. I said, the difference is, as believers, we have one authority, who has given us only one textbook, His word. All these authors, even the Christian authors, are great for resources but our authority is God alone.
I’ve said all that to say this, I’m always amazed at what God teaches me when I take enough time to get alone with God’s word….take the time to put all the other resources and opinions away and just let him speak to me; apart from the chaos of life.
Awesome post, Pete!! Awesome way to kick off your “guest blogger” week, Anne! “Simplify”, what a novel concept! Thanks so much for sharing!!
That rocked my world, thank you for sharing.
::reflecting::
Funny, it’s these quiet simple times with God that I remember best. All the busy times just go away, as if they never happened.
Thanks for sharing this.
yeah…. i used to be a lot “quieter” than i am now.
but, much of that quiet came from time out in nature. on the beach. taking a walk in the grass.
now i’m in a much colder climate, and its not so easy to get outdoors and listen to the quiet sound of creation…
summer is coming, so i might take some extra time to get outdoors & get quiet.
Gee, Pete, you always cut right to the point, don’t you? To be perfectly honest, I know I’m addicted to the noise. I know a sabbatical from the noise would be life altering. So why haven’t I done it? Lack of courage. It’s actually frightening to consider solitude.
Love it! Pretty astute insight into some of the realities facing the “modern” Church in our attempt to be relevant and fit the culture. Maybe some good old back to the basics is exactly what we need. Thanks for this post.
Well said.
What a great blog post. I needed it and it is so true. It’s easy to let the day slip away a little a time on the internet. Even when I come check things a little bit at a time it still eats away at my day. I then think” but I’m encouraging others, blogging about GOD!” Kinda funny..not that those are bad things but what is the best thing…simply being with Him.
ive shut off a lot of my noise makers like my phone and the sounds when email comes in…it is helping me be less noisy and less distracted…great post…mike.
I just finished reading the book “Static” by Ron Martoia. He discusses Christian “noise” and how the words we use drown out the message for the very people we’re trying to impact. In the same way, many times the technologies we use drown out the impact of what God is saying. Other times the technology can highlight something God is trying to say to us in a way we can hear it. Wisdom is knowing the difference.
Thanks Pete, for a thought provoking topic. As always!
I was just commenting to a coworker yesterday that I really felt to need to go to the woods alone for a long weekend. Just to “be still”. The noise level is life seems to grow more each day with me and my family. I need to let God really speak and deal with me alone, absent of all planned distractions.
Maybe we could all get together and do an alone retreat. ;-)
Pete and Crosspoint are awesome! What a great reminder and a great challenge. Thanks!
so true. adding pete to my twitter following and blog reading.
have a good one
chuck
Hey, I know that guy!
Great post as always Pete. I love your advice to “drop your scaffolding and get naked”. We don’t do that enough.
Brad Ruggles
http://www.bradruggles.com
it is so true. i posted something like that the other day.
It is a hard process once you are so connected to disconnect and do the things that truly give you life.
Way to go Pete, I am glad to see you are moving up in the world and giving us some great lesson on the way.
Wow……..scary, thought provoking, but worst of all TRUE. I have never in my life thought of myself as anything even resembling an addict. I just don’t have that personality, EXCEPT with blog-reading, email, technology, information, etc. I feel like I will miss out on something. The truth is that I AM missing out but on LIFE. MY LIFE and MY FAMILY and MY GOD. Sometimes the truth really hurts.
ouch…I read this while I had my iPod headphones in, while bouncing between 3 blogs, while checking my blackberry, and looking out the window. I’m a modern multi-tasker to the bone and the scripture that convicts me the most is Psalms 46:10…be still and know that I am God. He wants our undivided attention. Thanks for reminding and challenging me. Great to read your stuff on this great blog.
Been needing to spend time alone in the quiet with Our Maker but keep finding excuses. After I read this, I knew I needed to just “be still.” Thanks for the gentle yet firm reminder!
I’m the queen of finding a reason not to dial down life and focus on God’s word. I wouldn’t call myself an addict, but I also can’t imagine going even one day wit out being connected! Maybe I’m challenged to try it!
Like everyone else…It’s so hard when its quiet to just sit and listen and focus and not let my mind ramble off in a thousand different directions.
pete…some of us have these word-based gifts so it’s not the quiet we fear, it’s often the noise…the unplanned.
it makes people feel like they have to go thru a maze just to get to know you…some of us need shared air.
we may offset each other…
Great point Michael. I guess that is the beauty of authentic community.
I think I’m afraid to dial down the noise because I don’t want to miss anything. I don’t want to be left behind. I’m such an “achiever” that I don’t want to miss out on any opportunity. I’ve been wrestling intensely with this issue over the last few months. Life only gets busier unless we purposefully appoint our time and activities. Why does time with God seem to be the first thing that gets squeezed out?
Thanks Anne for having Pete guest blog today. This post is coming at a time when we are seeing amazing growth among Bible reading tools. I’ll admit that I’m not the best when it comes my study, but thank God that’s changing.
Finally someone said it. I have been thinking about this and how busy life is or how busy we choose to live… it’s crazy.
Pete, I love your heart and your blog, and this is an awesome post! I think I’m addicted to the noise as well, but usually live in denial to my addiction.
Thanks for shining a spotlight on this problem for us.
Thanks Pete, another great lesson.
wow, can i have my face back? it just melted. that was supremely what i am walking through this very moment. wow, nothing like confirmation and a swift a kick in the butt when you least expect it.
I’m addicted to NOISE too!!
I love the stuff you share on your own blog, so it’s not surprising that this is such a great, practical & honest word.
Thanks man…
Chilly
p.s. I’m loving this site – first time here!
It’s awesome to see you guest blogging Pete!! Man.. I am so glad I took the time tonight to read this post. That is EXACTLY my problem. The past almost 2 weeks I have been lessening(??) the noise in my life and I and my family have seen a change in me. Thank you
I live in Albania. Still classified as a third-world country. But I have high speed internet (although I use that term a little more loosely here…) and I find that I cling to the noise of the world more and more. I think is has something to do with the culture stress and hanging on to that which seemed “normal” to me in the US. This post really hit me like a brick. What do I really want to be “addicted” to in life? What does my family see that I am addicted to? Thanks for the great word.
Hi Pete – I just wanted to encourage you in your quest for a quietness of your soul. This is a journey God has me on as well. I encourage you to read “Invitation to Solitude and Silence” by Ruth Haley Barton. It was so powerful in my life and has encouraged me to spend time in quietness and solitude – and the results have been profound. I actually have the chance to hear from God in whole conversations – not just, as you say, me doing all of the talking. I also feel more “me” – less pulled by the world and others, more centered. Blessings on the journey!
I think you’re right…
Like what it says in Isaiah – in quietness and confidence shall be our strength…
I feel dirty.
Ain’t it funny how all of this is being shared/discussed via a blog?
Irony at it’s best.
And, honestly, I find all the comments sincere but at the same time I marvel at how it takes someone other than the Holy Spirit to convey the thought that we all need to spend time alone with God.
I admire and follow many pastors, Pete Wilson (for sure), but it’s clear that we seem incapable of consistently maintaining an ongoing relationship/conversation with our Lord and Savior on His merit alone.
Why does it take a Pete Wilson or a Henri Nouwen or a Ron Martoia or a Ruth Haley Barton to regurgitate information/scripture and etc… that is so available first person?
I understand the shepherd and flock dynamic but I don’t understand the Christ-relational lethargy and apathy (and fear) that many posters here have expressed.
It’s as if we are somehow tethered to someone else regarding our ability to have relationship with Him that created us. For me, it is Bible 101. And, I don’t mean to insinuate that no one reads their Bibles… I just whole-heartily agree with Mr. Wilson… it seems we just don’t “know it”.
And in the time that all of us get away from the noise and reflect… perhaps we should also review exactly what our relationships with our Pastor(s) is really all about. They are not called to be our substitute for worship and adoration, those things are meant for Christ.
We’ve placed too many of them on pedestals. Lavished them with hero-worship. Demanded that they be perfect. Expected them to move our mountains. And, that’s not what God created them for… at all. I think it would be awesome if our Pastor(s) would actually explain, in clear, concise terms exactly what their job description is as a Pastor.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard one do that.
So, crank it down, find some peace and quiet and love the Lord, thy God with all…. well, you know it, don’t you? That scripture?
ji
Yikes. That stings.
And yet, here I am thinking, “I have two babies, a full schedule…I can’t even go to the bathroom alone…let alone solitude”.
But, really, that’s just an excuse. Hmm…
(I found this blog from Cindy Beall, which I found from Just a Girl, which I found from Grit & Glory!)
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