Sit with it

I don't think I ever realized how important it is to just "sit with it" until I started to preach every Sunday. You just can't rush thinking. You can rush through laundry, cleaning the house; you can put the pedal to the metal and speed along in your car; you can dance faster -- but you can't think faster.

I start the week with reading the text and looking for illustrative material. I exegete, I research, I read, I study some more. By Wednesday, though, I still don't have a sermon. I can't have a sermon until I have some sit and think and pray time.

And this time is not just given to me -- I have to squeeze it out of the week; taking every moment I have to just think. Sure, there is some small amount of multi-tasking that I can do; I can shower and think or fold laundry and think, but I can't homeschool and think.

If I don't sit with it during the week, it shows on Sunday....