Skipping Stones

The most I’ve ever had is eight. I think that’s a world record…at least in our family. Growing up on a lake, the most I could ever get was five. Until one magical day.

My son had brought out the competitive spirit…and I would not be out-done. I had just celebrated Jacob’s victorious five, when I turned to find that perfect piece of rock that would give me my throne as the super stone skipping dad of all time.

Probing the ground, I refused to settle for anything less than smooth, round and flat. Then…suddenly, as if it had fallen from heaven to lay prostrate before me…was the most perfect stone I’d ever seen. Round, flat, smooth…this puppy was it.

Taking it up, I placed it perfectly between my thumb and index finger…stepped back and gave it a parallel side armed hurl that brought me my current eight skip crown.

Skipping stones…a favorite past time used to entertain many a lazy summer afternoon.

Skipping Stones…throwing a rock across a body of water hoping that it skirts the surface of the water to arrive safely on the other shore…having never been immersed by the medium that gives it life.

Skipping stones…that’s what we often do in life. Never really getting wet…we just glide across the surface. So close to the water…yet never really in it.

Every time the water touches our face…it refreshes…cools. Makes us long for more.

But remember…we’re just skipping here. We’re too busy, too late, too important to stop. So…we just keep skipping.

Some of us are better than others. With one flick of the wrist…we have immediate success. There’s one, two, three years skipped away. Other’s it’s five. Some excel…pulling ten, twenty, thirty or fifty.

Years gone by…given away…skipping.

And as we’re skipping, we tend to accept the inevitability of the lifestyle it brings. We lose track of seasons, people, family. We have few meaningful conversations with those around us. We glance at life and it’s surroundings and find apathy to be our neighbor.

We use phrases like “How time flies” or “the older you get, the quicker it goes” to explain away our lives…as if it’s just the way things are.

Or is it?

Reality, or even better – truth, is anchored only in God’s word, His Spirit and presence in our lives. Wisdom can be gained in many ways and opinions sought…but truth is not found a part from God.

So far on this journey…we’ve learned:

1. God is seeking us

2. We’re made for his presence…to hear his voice.

Skipping works against us. Yes we can get more done…yes we travel faster and farther. But surface dwelling is not how God designed us. We’re made for diving deep into the vast reaches of the unexplored.

We should examine. Question. Probe. Search. Seek.

Skipping stones means we’re skimming water. Or better yet, we’re skipping God.

Diving means we’re immersed…covered, inundated. Asking for more…going farther and deeper.

The quest brings life…literally.

Several years ago I was speaking at a conference when I ran into an old friend. We hadn’t seen each other in years. He was serving an up-start church in Georgia and I was leading worship in large church. Top of my game I thought.

We decided to have lunch, and over the course of our conversation, he asked me a familiar yet dormant question. “So Jeff, what new depths are you exploring”? It was a question I once asked of him during a simpler time when the pursuit of God was something we shared. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I felt as if someone had punched me in the stomach. I studerred and came up with a really good pastoral covering. Or in other words…I made it up. You know why? I was skipping stones. Five years in this case since last I’d seen him and there was no change, no growth, no new. No diving here. Not even a good snorkel. No foot in the water.

God whispered…the flame flickered and my heart began to race. I sensed, once again, the tender voice of the Father calling me.

Come…listen…still…shhh…

I excused myself and returned to my room pressing myself for answers with dormant questions. How could everything be so great…life be so rewarding…and I find myself so disconnected? How could I be feeling this way? Why is it all so black and white?

It was a holy ambush…and my spirit had been snared. God had my attention.

I began to take inventory…asking some pretty exhausting questions for which I may or may not have the answers. But it didn’t matter. I was on the hunt.

So, I followed the list as I had been taught, having grown up in the church:

1. Had I abandoned my quiet time…or study of the scriptures? No, I made this a daily priority of at least thirty minutes or more. Couldn’t be this.

2. Was I engaged in a small group fellowship of like believers? Yes…in fact…a little more engagement than I really wanted. But definitely engaged.

3. Worship weekly? Well of course…I was the worship leader.

4. Prayer? Yes…usually connected to my “quiet time”.

So…what could it be? What was God trying to tell me…what was this urging…these heart pangs that kept pressing me to look deeper. I needed an answer…a quick fix.

But an answer and a quick fix were not to be had. Nor will it ever be so in this life.

Now we see a dim reflection, as if we were looking into a mirror, but then we shall see clearly. Now I know only a part, but then I will know fully, as God has known me. I Corinthians 13:12

The truth is this: the more you seek…the more you desire. The more you find…the greater your appetite for more.

Our Spirits long to probe…to explore…to venture.

Skipping stones will deliver temporal fulfillment: a promotion, a new car, a new house, nice clothes, great vacations.

Diving will deliver eternal perspective: joy, peace, hope, faith, love.

Are these mutually exclusive? Not necessarily. The answer is found only in their pursuit.

I had compartmentalized my life. I made boxes into which all things would fit. My God box contained my spiritual life: worship, bible study, prayer, witness, church. They all fit neatly and tightly wrapped in a box, set on a shelf right next to other boxes titled family, friends, ministry, work, fun, games.

And since I was skipping stones, I never really noticed. I guess I had begun making these boxes nearly 6 years prior – when life began to become too complicated for me to keep all things straight. I’m no juggler…so I began making boxes.

I’d grab my god box and dabble in some prayer and bible study… then place it back in order to get a little bit of ministry out…before getting the next box of work and glance at my daily goals. Later I might pull down the family box, along with the friend box before going back to the work box for something I forgot. Then a quick grab of the ministry box gave need to the God box again for a hospital prayer. Arriving home gives rise to the family box for a long while, with an occasional glance into the work box and friend box. With kids in bed the fun box comes out and while getting the games box down I accidentally drop wife box.

Thus was my life. And I guess it would’ve remained so had not I dropped the stone from my hand and decided to step into the water myself.

We know why we’re here. We know that God longs to awaken the sleeper within us. Now it’s our choice. Are you listening?

Then let’s drop the stones and take the plunge!