kingdom travelin'

I greeted a neighbor the other day (from greater than 6 feet) and learned that she and her husband were working from home, as are many during this crisis.

She noted that they are in the “figuring out stage”. I told her that I remember trying to figure out how working from home could be successful.

This got me thinking. We could be at this awhile. So here are some ideas that worked for me from my decade of working from home. They may help, they may not. We’re all different, it okay.

Maybe some readers who have also worked from home may use the comments below for some additional ideas that would be more helpful than mine. Adapt, apply and then adopt! Anyway, here are my ideas:

1. If possible, get a spot that can be your workplace. A spot where you can leave stuff laying and then come back to it. Everybody doesn’t have a room set aside for a home office, so look for a corner that you can have a chair and a table (if not a desk). Again, this may not be possible, but avoiding the couch is probably wise.

2. Establish a rhythm. Routine, for some of us is essential, for others of you is helpful. But getting into a daily rhythm may be especially helpful to your family. If you’ve got little ones who need almost constant attention, then having a dependable rhythm will help in sharing the load.

2b. Don’t mistake rhythm for a rut. Be flexible in your planning!

3.Don’t become a stone that never moves. Use your phone or Fitbit or whatever to remind you to get up and move EVERY hour. I’ve got my Fitbit set to warn me at every :50 to finish my 250 steps. I use the stairs, go get a glass of water, or more likely, a cup of coffee. I even go outside and walk a lap around the yard. When I return to my desk, I’m more alert! Speaking of walking around the yard…

4. Go for a real walk every day. A few years ago, I discovered walking and talking… who knew? (the Greeks & Jesus, that’s who) So, if I’ve got a call scheduled that is going to be primarily disciple making, coaching or mentoring, and if there’s little need to refer to a lot of documents, I put my ear things in, put my phone in my pocket and go for a walk. A colleague in Europe just posted about the various positives from this practice. Check it out

4b. Keep in touch with people!

5. Keep reasonable, dependable hours. Your spouse will appreciate this one, or may grow resentful if you don’t. A wise friend gave me this advice when I first “moved in” to the home office. It may be hard and there may be exceptions, but it will pay off in the end.

6. Treat your home workspace the way you would in an office context. Keep it organized and don’t let a mess pile up. This is especially important if your space winds up being in plain view of everyone else in the house.

7. Be careful not to fall into a comfort food thing. One challenge of being home is the possibility of eating snacks. A lot of snacks. Comfort food May not only make your mind less effective but you could find yourself putting on some unneeded pounds.

8. Read something positive. Dwell in Scripture that encourages you. (There’s a link somewhere on this home page lists Scripture I read when I fear.) Being anxious about this crisis is to be expected, but sitting in anxiety helps no one, especially you. Work on your Spiritual Disciplines. Pray.

9. Since you’re home, and according to Twitter and Facebook, maybe suffering from boredom, invest in yourself by doing some gentle life evaluation. I’ll be posting a free PDF resource that has helped many.

10. Develop a home exercise routine. Do some stuff to stretch and move every day. Getting in better shape shouldn’t require a gym. It’ll help in tons of ways.

Well, those are my thoughts. I hope something spurs an idea! If you’ve got more to add, use the comments.

Oh, yeah! Wash your hands!

A quick question: During this time of hunkering down, what can each of us learn about abiding in the Lord through solitude?

“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”
‭‭Colossians‬ ‭2:13-14‬ ‭ESV‬‬

I will reflect for a moment on what it means to wait on the Lord. It does not mean ‘do nothing’. To oversimplify it, I would say that it means that I should begin each morning looking at him. From that point I should take each step, one at a time, moving forward in his guidance.

For sometime now I have prayed that God would guide “my words, my thoughts, my steps, my decisions as I go through the day“. I do not believe that waiting on the Lord means inaction, I believe it means moving forward. But I believe that that moving forward is done in his light, according to his plan, one which I cannot know if I am not sitting and listening to him – through abiding.

Indeed, to wait on the lord means to be so intentionally listening to his instructions that I step in his path. As one pastor said it “I want my nose so closely behind his shoulder blades that I cannot see to the side”.

But, waiting sometimes does means inaction. This is why I’m such a big fan of Sabbath. For it is in Sabbath, stillness, quietness, that I can rest and reset my heart and mind so as to be able to hear more clearly.

I am a big fan of short naps. When my mind has begun to feel groggy for whatever reason, I will put myself in a quiet place, tell Siri to wake me up in 20 minutes, and begin to pray. In that prayer I focus on him. As I focus on him, my mind is reset, and then I drift into a light sleep, and then Siri wakes me up. I am refreshed and, the vast majority of the times, I am more alert. I think this is a kind of waiting on the Lord. Not being in such a rush. Not striving forward just because something needs to be done. Not seeking to fill a need, because the need is not necessarily the call.

Those with a bit of ‘works righteousness’, whose identity is found in what they do, instead of in our Lord, will find waiting on the Lord to be rather unnerving. They have been convinced that must change the world and change culture. I saw an interesting quote today that said “no where in the Bible is church told to change a culture.” I remember when I was pushing back against the whole culture thing in my doctoral studies saying that cultures are changed one heart at a time.

Reaching the world for Jesus or reaching a country for Jesus or reaching a city for Jesus, it seems rather pie in the sky, very unrealistic, And I’m not even sure it the words of Jesus. But evangelicalism in the last hundred years has been singing that song very loudly so that it has become, for the singers and the listeners, a kind of truth, while not being strictly true. With this kind of philosophy, it is difficult to… Wait on the Lord.

I think of a little booklet, Tyranny of the Urgent. Our urgency, to do this and that, have replaced any idea of waiting on the Lord. Jesus said abide in me and I will bear fruit in you. We are all about the fruit but we don’t necessarily want to abide. We have replaced the important (abiding) with the urgent (doing).

Let me try to put it in a sentence.

To wait on the Lord is, I think, a posture of looking to him as I step forward, walking in his steps, not in the urgencies of the world or it’s rescue.

Be reminded each morning, each noon, each night…