Friends,
It is great to connect with you again after a break from writing this summer.
I hope that you were able to receive the beauty of this season, and with it, the love of God and his gift of rest and restoration for your soul.
For me and my family, it has definitely been a memorable summer, as God invited us to move from the imposing mountains of Colorado, which had been our home for almost a decade, to the open oceans in Miami, FL.
It was here in Miami where I lived for the first 12 years of marriage and where God, over 20 years ago now, disrupted my life with his wild love and invited me to follow him on the most amazing adventure to restore and initiate my masculine soul.
As you can imagine, this transition has not been easy. After almost a decade investing in our Colorado home, and in the most amazing community of friends and allies, we found ourselves in a completely new reality.
God had warned me that this would not be an easy season, that it would be disruptive.
But if I’m honest, I highly underestimated his counsel, and a couple of weeks into our new adventure I was not doing well.
I began to witness my reactions to my wife and kids— I was sharp and commanding, rather than loving and caring.
I was uncomfortable—annoyed by little things like someone cutting me off on the road, or the hostess at a restaurant taking care of another family before us, even though we had arrived first.
I was even irritated in the morning where I couldn’t find my coffee cup at our new home—”where do we keep our coffee cups now?!”
I felt that things were out of control—everything felt uncertain, like I had no firm ground to stand on.
You see, our souls are designed to be settled, grounded on a firm foundation, firmly anchored to something strong, stable, and unshakable that we can fully depend on.
The problem comes when we anchor ourselves to things that may be here today but not tomorrow. And in today’s world, with the constant pursuit of comfort, convenience and control, it is too easy to anchor ourselves to things that may be good but that can easily be shaken.
I had not realized how much of my settledness—my daily sense of well being, was rooted in comforts at home and work that I had built over the course of a decade. The “God and…” or “God plus…” things of life.
And when God led me out of these places of comfort and convenience—when these “God and…” things were no longer present, I felt shaken to the core.
Until I began to release everything to him again.
In prayer, I released our old home and all the things I loved about it back to God.
I released my comforts—my morning coffee on my favorite chair watching the sun through the window, the living room where my son learned to walk and where as a family we got to play and laugh, my old office with the “perfect set up” for praying, for meeting with allies, and for all my computer work.
I also had to release my friends to God, trusting that he will make a way for us to continue cultivating those special relationships that mean so much.
Most of all, I’ve gotten to choose him daily as my rock and my foundation. To share with him, from the depths of my heart, that he is my only place of refuge, the true anchor for my soul.
"Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.” - Psalm 62:1-2
As a result of my disruptive experience I decided to ask some people close to me—friends of God who walk closely with him, to reflect with honesty on the shakable things that they anchor themselves to on a daily basis. The “God and…” things of life for them.
These are some of their reflections:
“My phone— I am ashamed to confess how much I depend on it. I feel “safe” when I have it with me. I’ve noticed how I no longer tolerate being silent or doing nothing. I feel itchy and quickly reach out for my phone, even if it is just to scroll through something…anything. It’s like I’m trying to fill a void.”
“WiFi— I have come to fully depend on being connected all the time. I don’t really know people in my neighborhood. My whole social life depends on connecting with others online.”
“Amazon Prime— I can go from thinking about something to having placed an order in a matter of seconds, without much rational thought, let alone having checked my budget, my true motives or having asked God whether I should buy it or not. If I’m honest, it makes me feel good—gives me a “dose of well being”.
“Starbucks— I say it as a joke—”no one wants me around before I get my morning latte”. In reality, it is more true than I’d like to admit. I’ve come to rely on it—it gives me “a little bit of life” no matter what else is going on around me.
Other answers included Netflix, YouTube, Apple Pay and CrossFit.
Things that are good, but that can easily go from convenient, to necessary, to absolutely foundational for daily living.
Friends, what if one day all these “good” things we have come to rely on were not around?
What would be your reaction? Would you be disrupted and uprooted? Would you panic?
Or would you draw deeper into God, your Rock, and his infinite Kingdom, knowing without a shadow of a doubt that you are well and that in Him you lack nothing?
How about the people around you? What would be the effect you have on them? Would you be the one who naturally draws them to God as their anchor so that they can also find peace?
You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal. - Isa 26:3-13
As we enter into the fall season, disruption may come as a result of following God into the next chapter of your adventure with him.
Or it may come through issues at work or at home, finances or health, or through any of your relationships.
And on this particular fall season, it may perhaps come through some other external factor—politics, finances, social issues, maybe even technology and communications (remember the tech blackout in July that led to thousands of flights cancelled and total mayhem in the travel industry for days?).
"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” - John 16:33
My prayer is that however disruption comes into your life, whether now or at some point later, that you may see it as a gift— catalyst to draw near to God, keep your mind steadfast in him, trust him with all your heart as your Rock eternal, and experience the perfect peace that only he can give.
Much love, brothers.
— Pablo