The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry

by John Comer

Right from the get-go I knew I would like this book.

Even a retiree like me rushes about.. sometimes aimlessly??

In the main I had begun to try and slow down as age had crept up and started the process anyway! 

Plus being married to a typical type “A” male (multitask, competitive, ambitious, dislikes wasting time etc) for 50yrs had rubbed a bit off on me to a lesser degree.

Like most of us I guess my phone had become a big part of my life. 

To be fair I have a good mix of things I do on it : 

Social media, Kindle, PrayerMate, recipes, note book, games like sudoku, online shopping etc. All good but they can take up time which could be spent on more productive things, and can take you away from and invade quiet times with God; just sitting and being in the moment with Him in your favourite place.

Social media interaction with people should not be a substitute for baking a cake and popping around to someone for a couple of slices with a cuppa; spending time with those who are lonely or struggling or just to get to know them better. 

John Comer had a breakdown after being a pastor in a multi mega church for 10 years. 

Being a type A personality he thrived on being “fast”…. Driven until crash! Here is a snippet of that moment.

“I end my ten-year run at the church. My family and I take a sabbatical. It’s a sheer act of grace. I spend the first half comatose, but slowly I wake back up to my soul. I come back to a much smaller church. We move into the city; I walk to work. I start therapy. One word: wow. Turns out, I need a lot of it. I focus on emotional health. Work fewer hours. Date my wife. Play Star Wars Legos with my kids. (It’s for them, really.) Practice Sabbath. Detox from Netflix. Start reading fiction for the first time since high school. Walk the dog before bed. You know, live”.

Even better he says:  “I feel God again. I feel my own soul”.

He goes on to say that before the light bulb was invented humans slept 11 hours a day, waking when it was light, sleeping when it got dark.

Inventions of washing machines and labour saving devices should have given us more time but we fill it with needless stuff.

Dan Allender, in his book Sabbath, had this to say: 

“The Sabbath is an invitation to enter delight. The Sabbath, when experienced as God intended, is the best day of our lives. Without question or thought, it is the best day of the week. It is the day we anticipate on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday—and the day we remember on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Sabbath is the holy time where we feast, play, dance, have more intimate relationships , sing, pray, laugh, tell stories, read, paint, walk, and watch creation in its fullness. Few people are willing to enter the Sabbath and sanctify it, to make it holy, because a full day of delight and joy is more than most people can bear in a lifetime, let alone a week”.

John began a journey to have a family sabbath on a Friday, switching off phones and computers, allowing each individual to do what they wanted.

This is a practical book with Bible truths but packed with scary insights… one being the impact that social media has on our children's and young people's brains.

“People are out there trying to create some things that will grab our attention in small sound bites!”

God says "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy."

I love the opening word, “Remember.” It’s easy to forget there is a day that’s blessed and holy. Easy to get sucked into the life of speed, to let the pace of your life ramp up to a notch shy of insanity. 

To forget: Creator (not me), creation (me). 

Remember that life as it comes to us is a gift. 

Remember to take time to delight in it as an act of grateful worship. 

Remember to be present in the moment and its joy. Humans are prone to amnesia, so God commands us to remember. 

Then God said this: "Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God."

Yvonne Street, August 2023