I originally wrote this piece on April 5, 2012. I have updated it to include an introduction and smooth out the thoughts within the piece. At the time I wrote this, I was moving full force with the majority of the world. Like worker ants in full ecclesiastical fashion, we were all so busy. That was until the global pandemic of 2020 knocked us all off the Carousel ride. The pandemic shifted our daily lives, according to a Washington Post article. In the past three years, more families committed to a better work-life balance; some even stepped out of the workforce to start their own businesses. Some mothers shifted into homemaking, and some even began homeschooling. However, societal values have also shifted in negative ways. More people are choosing to be single and no longer value raising children. Community, fellowship, and in-person gatherings have continued to trend downwards since the early 2000s. In fact, recent polls show that traditional values such as patriotism, religion, and community have experienced a sharp decline among Americans. In our eagerness to return to normalcy, a call to a generation once again echoes out: stop running, come to Jesus.

We live busy lives. To sit down means to be unproductive, lazy even. But what are we so busy doing? Typical families, like mine, work hard to provide the necessities: food, shelter, utilities, clothing, medical expenses, transportation, and education. But what else are we working hard to provide for? Children’s extracurricular activities, hobbies, and entertainment all take a slice of the budget. Dining out, home furnishings, and vacations also take a portion of our finances. Let’s not forget about all of the birthdays, holidays, and the big day – Christmas! As if it all weren’t enough, we have the added pressure of every marketing team in America telling us what else we need to buy to live happy, well-rounded lives. Are we happier or more well-rounded, though? My firm suspicion is, “No.” Still, we plug away trying to keep the momentum going. My pastor, at the time, said that he read somewhere it’s like we are on a carousel ride, and it just keeps spinning around, faster and faster. The momentum is so forceful that we simply cannot “just get off of the ride.”

Connecting IRL. We are far too busy to be slowed down, much too busy to take the time to connect. A big part of our busy lives now revolves around technology. Just imagine your life without the modern conveniences of technology. There would be no electricity, medical advances, or internet; gone would be social media and smartphones. Technology plays a vital role in our daily lives; it keeps our modern lives churning. We watch the morning news on television or pull up the news online to check the clips, highlights, and weather. We bank online, shop online, and even pay our bills online. We check our Facebook and Twitter accounts to make sure we haven’t missed out on something and to post a new status or tweet; we may even pin something on Pinterest. We are totally plugged in but utterly disconnected. All of this web-based interaction gives us a false sense of intimacy; it’s superficial. We’ve lost the art of personal connection, of conversations with expression; we’ve replaced it with vague status posts and emoticons. We live in the generation of web 2.0 with more ways to connect than ever in history, yet we are more disconnected, depressed, and lonely. My former pastor’s wife once said that loneliness is a condition; you can be in a room full of people and still feel completely alone. Social media is a wonderful tool for keeping people in touch. However, it is not meant to be a replacement for a relationship. If a person is a call away, pick up the phone and speak to them. If they are a drive away, hop in the car and visit them. Let’s not sacrifice relationship for convenience.

“For with much wisdom is much sorrow;
as knowledge increases, grief increases.” Ecclesiastes 1:18 HCSB

Lovers of Self. We are living in a time where selfishness is valued with slogans like “The customer is always right” and “Have it your way.” We are devoted to consumerism on our terms. Everything is returnable, refundable, resalable, or disposable. Divorce rates are still at an all-time high, and more people are choosing to live by themselves. People are alone and lonelier than ever. We are trying to fill the void with everything except that which we are called to. Our generation is the most educated, liberal, and technologically productive of all time. Yet statistics show that we are also overworked, overstressed, lonely, depressed, and unconnected. It shouldn’t be this way. As Christians, “Christ has liberated us to be free. Stand firm then, and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1

Deteriorating Values. If communication and human bonding are like a marriage bed, then our society has deteriorated from making love within the confines of marriage to casual sex through hookups. We must return to our roots: to walk in a relationship with God through Christ Jesus so that we will know love and be able to love others. We were created for companionship, made to be loved. We were not created to be empty vessels full of vain conceit, nor were we created for the pursuit of selfish pleasures. Returning to our first love, God our creator, is the only way to reconcile what our generation has become with what we are called to be. When we place God in His rightful position and submit our will to His, we fulfill the greatest command: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37, NIV) When we do this, we are also able to complete the second command, which is like the first… “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:39)

It is time to sit at Jesus’ feet. I believe God is calling us back to Him and back to a slower pace. In relation to running, like the cannon shot to signal the start of a race, so begins our adult lives with much eagerness. Our pace starts off exhilaratingly strong, but soon we find our breath becoming shallow and rapid, sweat beads on our forehead, and we discover the truth: we are running at an unsustainable pace and must slow down so that we may finish the race. We must pace ourselves in such a way as to win the prize, a King and a crown that will not fade away.

Pressing on Toward the Goal. “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently that too God will make clear to you.” Philippians 3:12-15