introduction

As humans, Westerners, students, teenagers, spouses, parents, 

employees, managers, coaches, coordinators, chauffeurs, 

and (even as) Christians, 

despite our best intentions, we are pretty terrible at margins.  


We fail at self-care.  


We push, and pull, and run, and rush, and stress, and move, and hardly ever take a minute to just…. 


Breathe.  

In all of that, our time alone with God suffers.


Our time alone with God is sustenance to our soul and in neglecting it, we don’t cause God to lose power, we don’t make God less God, we don’t stir up wrath, or bring on bad Karma… no, what we do is bring more pain, more stress, more doubt, more fear, less certainty, less clarity, and less peace on ourselves.

This weekend you will all breathe.  


You will break.  


You will replenish.  


You will retreat.  


You will spend time alone with God.  

You may be on your own

or you may be with a spouse and/or children as you do this,

but this is all about just you and God.  


You will spend this time by making your way through various stations

that each focus on a different aspect of your time with God:  

“Sacred Stations”.  


The goal is to get just a tiny glimpse of God’s

amazing, massive, scandalous, unwavering, constant, always pursuing, never giving up, ridiculous

love for you.

before you start

Read and think on Ephesians 3:14-19:

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.  I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.  And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.  May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully.  Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. 


Now, take a moment to pray something like this prayer:

God, Help me to focus my attention on you – my creator and the lover of my soul.  I am a distracted, chaotic person, but I want you to have my complete attention.  Jesus, help me grasp how wide and long and deep your love is for me. Amen.