The Graceline

A young lumberjack had a dream of being the best wood cutter in the world. He traveled to the great forests of the northwest and hired on with a logging crew. He was a man's man and disdained modern equipment. He used only his trusty double-sided axe. A logging company foreman hired him on probation with much skepticism knowing that the proud young man could not keep up with the chain saws. Nevertheless, he gave him his chance.

On Monday, the young Paul Bunyan “want-to-be” cut twice as much wood as the whole crew. On Tuesday, he cut as much wood as the crew. On Wednesday, he cut only half as much. On Thursday, he could barely keep up. On Friday, the foreman called him in to fire him.

“Why are you firing me? I work harder than any ten men. I get here early, and I leave late. I never take a break or even stop for lunch. I don't understand,” the angry young logger shouted.

“No question about it. You do work harder than the others, but you don't work smarter. No matter how hard you work, it will never be enough to overcome the resistance of a dull axe. You have to take time to sharpen your axe. It is not wasted time. It is a necessity. Every minute you spend sharpening your axe increases your productivity tenfold. Come back to see me when you learn to work smarter, not harder,” replied the wise old logger.

I can sympathize with this young Paul Bunyan. I was programmed at an early age to get all your work done before you play or rest. Mama required me to get my homework as soon as I got home from school before I could go up the the neighbor's house and play ball. That tape keeps playing in my ears until this very day. As a pastor, your work is never done. There is always sermons to prepare, hospitals to visit, people to counsel, funerals and weddings to perform, meeting to attend... ad infinitum.

Relax? That's for slackards and lazy people. Work. Perform. You can rest when you get to Heaven. I had rather burn-out than rust-out. That's been my motto, but I don't think it's God's.
Jesus took as many a 10 retreats in His 3+ years on earth, and He never missed taking a Sabbath rest each and every week. He often retreated away from the clamoring multitudes to spend time with His Papa. Now, if Jesus needed to get away to rest and sharpen His axe, how much more do we need to do the same.

I'm stubborn and hard-headed. Ask Wanda. But God loves me and never gives up on teaching me that His ways are better than my ways. After 25 years in ministry in which I was never away from the church for more than six days at a time, I just crashed and burned. My “stinking thinking” kept lying to me that the church would collapse if I didn't keep it going. Talk about pride, not to mention stupidity! I got to the place where I could not keep my thoughts straight. I would lose my train of thought in mid-sentence. I lost my joy, my peace and my zest for life. I could not motivate myself to do anything... not even things I really enjoyed like golf, fishing and eating. I've been there before, but my work ethic just plowed right on thru, and I just kept on plodding along. This time, I couldn't make it happen.

By God's grace, He is re-programming me. I am not indispensable. Life can and will go on with or without me. I've learned the lesson of the water bucket. Whenever you think the world will grind to a halt without you, take a bucket of water and stick your hand down into it. Pull it out and the size of the hole that's left in the water will be how much you will be missed.

Now I'm not saying that people are not important. What I'm saying is that life is meant to be lived and enjoyed. If our work is not moving us toward that purpose, then our work has no meaning. Meaningless work will wear you out if you don't step back now and then to gain perspective.

I've been away from the church for two and a half weeks now. The muddiness of my clogged mind is starting to settle, and I am seeing life from a different and better perspective. I am very appreciative of my church family understanding and loving me enough to allow me this sabbath rest. I will return, Lord willing, on Sunday morning, February 7, at New Beginnings for my first sermon of the series: Running on E! I'll be sharing my experience of trying to live life with an empty tank and hopefully God will give us some high octane fuel to get us up and running again at peak efficiency.

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to Me. Get away with Me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with Me and work with Me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with Me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly” (Matthew 11:28-30 MSG).
I think I'll take Jesus up on that walk. Want to join us?