From the Zebra Bag   Musings from a follower of Jesus, husband , father and pastor

Some years ago I was reading with a small group in John Ortberg’s “ The Life you have Always Wanted.” In the book, he recounts a conversation he had with his mentor, the late Dallas Willard. Ortberg asked a question about how he might use a sabbatical to become more of what God intended him to be. After a thoughtful pause, Willard replied, “ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.” Subsequent to reading that segment I have read multiple accounts of the circumstances surrounding the conversation but the statement  “ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life” remains unchanged. Much has been written around this idea as a Google search will reveal and recently Jon-Mark Comer, a pastor for Portland Oregon has taken the statement and used it as a title for a new book to which Ortberg writes the foreword.

The challenge to be “unhurried” is one that has nagged me ever since that session with our small group all these years ago. I have eagerly read Alan Fadling’s books The Unhurried life and An UnHurried Leader, both of which I highly recommend, and I have begun Comers book with great anticipation and so far it has not disappointed. However, my progress toward the objective has seemed disappointingly slow. 

The current SIP has brought so many changes to our daily routines. Most of us, I suspect, have spent at least some time wondering what sort of people we will be when the virus is a thing of the past. In the course of one of these flights of fancy, I was suddenly conscious that one of the most noticeable differences for me was that I was actually no longer hurrying anywhere and it feels so good!

Earlier this week a friend forwarded me this video (only four minutes) entitled “ The Great Realization.” I wonder if part of this realization could be that our susceptibility to “the hurry virus” is every bit as dangerous as any other virus and that finding a way to avoid getting reinfected with it was also of the highest importance.

Will we succeed? Well, of course, the jury is still out but I certainly hope that when the future bedtime stories are told the recognition that hurry kills and the steps taken to deal with that reality will be one of the most notable achievements seen in 2020 hindsight.