Attention

A couple of weeks ago Michelle and I were doing our thing on Sunday morning. This consisted of us leading our Kidzone Family Production, teaching the college aged, and then teaching the children's worship during our congregation's normal worship time. In general, this is a normal Sunday morning for us.

I guess I need to fill in with a little background information:
1) Our congregation was doing something a little different for 4 consecutive weeks where instead of meeting in the auditorium, we met together in our fellowship hall. We sat at our round tables, singing, praying, discussing, taking communion, listening to the sermon.
2) I just got back from a 2 week stint in China. I was a little foggy in the head....
3) We did not have all the multimedia that we usually do for children's worship.

Anyway, back to the story. Michelle and I are setting up for the kids to come back. I am focused on amping the teens up, so that they are good examples for the kids: "this is a ministry. don't be texting, sleeping, etc. focus on the kids. Even when it looks like they are ignoring you, they still look at you and think, 'that is what I am supposed to do when I am a teenager'". Michelle was getting her notes together, music files in order, and power point slides together. All of a sudden, the kids start rolling in. Needless to say, we were caught off guard. Why so soon?

A little more background: usually, we teach the children for about 30-40 minutes during our congregational worship. This particular Sunday, we had them for over an hour. It seems the worship minister, in his attempt to try to get other families to sit together decided to send the kiddies our way at the beginning of our worship service, so that there would be space for multiple families at one table. In other words, big families (multiple kids) can easily take up one table. When it is announced for the kids to go to children's worship, the kids stand up and leave, and then the parents are sitting by themselves at these very big tables. Don't get me wrong: I think this was an excellent idea. It just seems that we may have been victims of a series of unfortunate events.

Needless to say, that was a very long Sunday morning. We didn't have the proper media stuff, so we ended up doing a lot of things multiple times. I got frustrated for it taking so long (what time zone was I in anyway???). The teens were not to thrilled as well (when are we leaving to go eat???!!!). The kids could feel the tension, and they began to spiral into a state of disorder. And that got me thinking..... What is it about attention that it drives our lives so strongly?

We stand in lines for hours to see the next blockbuster hit. Movies these days go for 2.5 hours usually. We take our kids to practice. I hear the coach say, "focus!" We read books for hours at a time. We can surf the web for what it seems like days. Facebook stalking is quickly becoming a fine art. But we can easily blow a gasket when the download speed isn't mach 3. I found out last night that my cable service has a feature that lets me watch 8 football games at the same time, for free. I take my wife to a really nice restaurant and the hostess says, "it will be about 45 minutes", and I think to myself, "that's not too long...." However, I stand in line at chic-fil-a for more than 5 minutes and its like I am going to lose my religion!

Attention is very powerful. Let me explain. What we are attentive to, is where we are going to gravitate to. If you like movies, then you will set your calendar around when the blockbusters are coming out. If you love football, then you will plan your wedding (and others for that matter) around home games. if you enjoy eating out, then waiting in line for a considerable period of time for a good meal seems OK. If you are a workaholic, then sacrificing time with your family is part of providing for them. What we give our attention to, or what grabs our attention, is what is going to drive us in a particular direction.

But for some reason, I have to work at giving God my attention. I don't see myself standing in line for sermons. I don't find myself waiting in line for the next update of the NIV. Seriously. We don't have a waiting list for volunteers in our benevolence program. We have to "market" church ministries. Again, attention is a powerful thing. We decide what we are going to give our attention to.

Michelle and I have chosen to work with the children at our congregation for an indefinite period of time. This means we don't get a lot of worship services. And I'll be honest, that's OK with me right now. But at any given Saturday evening, after the kids have gone to bed, you will find us sitting in the floor of our living room listening to a podcast given by some ministry leader. While we are listening, we are editing slides for our skits the next morning, organizing media material for children's worship, or writing notes for our college class. We have forced ourselves to take in the gospel in the way that works for us presently. And let me say, I love it. A great friend of mine talks about something very similar while he drove to work the other day.

Because of our schedule, Michelle and I are finding ourselves teaching our kids while we drive down the road. We are seeing opportunities more clearly to interact with our kids with real world, up to the minute events instead of putting things off until Sunday to answer their questions. My little girl wants to know why she can feel the wind but not see it..... Discussions about bugs, turtles, pink ponys, princesses, and bionicle wars don't frustrate me. I am starting to look forward to the time right after I yell, "bedtime!" when I sit in my son's bed. Its at this point that he starts talking about God, asking me questions about stars and planets, what does "cool" mean, what does "hell" mean How does God see everything when we are on one side of the world and others are on the other side of it? I am finding I am more patient when my little girl asks if she can help hold the garbage bag while I put the cut grass into it.

What is it that is grabbing your attention right now? What would it take for you to give your attention to God? Or Give your attention to someone else in a Godly manner? What form would it look like? Maybe its more sermons, a new bible, joining a bible study on Mondays, closing your office door at lunch, learning to download podcasts to your ipod, choosing to eat lunch with someone you respect once a week, waking up an hour early, going to bed an hour early....

Right now, Michelle and I have found something that seems to work for us presently. I can't really put my finger on what "it" is, but I know that "it" is working. I am sure it will change over time. I am not concerned about it changing, as long as my attention is focused on God.