I am enjoying moderating everyone’s comments while David is away, but since he’s on vacation somewhere…. someone tell the spam fairy to go away!
So here’s the deal, I thought I’d post a simple question and see what kind of input you all would give.
IF money was no object (and of course if money was no object you probably wouldn’t have to worry about that petty thing called a job to schedule around) what would be your idea of the perfect place to just get alone with God for awhile?
Obviously you could get a bit of time alone with God if you make the time or don’t sleep, but I am talking three to six months away. One of those “Just short of donning a monks robe and lounging about in the local scriptorium” kinds of away.
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David Hayward is a pastor artistically stripping to the essential.
the beach
a solitary jail cell…
who else and what else would I focus on?
I guess I should answer my own question here too.. I think I would choose a long hike. Maybe go hike the Appalachian Trail. It would have to be something that includes a journey of some kind.
No question, I’d go to the Mount Hermon retreat center in Santa Cruz, California. It’s a camp amid the redwood trees and right near the beach. It’s where I went to camp in junior high and high school and where I became a Christian. It’s always had a special place in my heart, and I would jump at the opportunity to spend a week of quiet reflection in the forest there.
I grew up on the Indonesian half of the island of Papua. It’s a tossup between the deserted undiscovered tropical beaches of the Papuan coast, and the magestic mountain range down the center of the island, dotted with villages filled with flowers.
there is this great place in Italy that I love and I used to live there. It is in the middle of a valley and gives a view to both places. I could sit there for hours as long as I could get to the loo regularly!. Also, I think the centre of my city – London, UK – right at Traflagar Square is great for meeting God, cos even though it is manic and busy with people – it’s a great place to sit and think and pray!
I am sixty-six, retired after ten in the Navy and thirty on the railroad, visiting a rescue mission and a Youth Detention Center once a month in an attempt to share Christ without swinging the Bible like some sword of judgment, and working my sixth year, now, in Elementary School Special-Ed. While I can well understand that within us that connects with a need to “get away from it all and rest”, if it took three to six months to accomplish it, I’d be wondering just how far I’d drifted from the oasis. We each have our own journey; but, for me, just give me His voice and the next step….
I’m thinking Maldives..
I will build a church building for the mission works. (Of course if i have the money for it)
Into The Wild — minus the poison berries. out of society and into solitude. there is a time for one and then it will soon be time for the other, etc.
Without any hesitation….Glacier Point at Yosemite National Park.
An OTT, darkish Spanish convent with no internet and no books.
New Zealand After a few weeks, I would return to the states and visit friends around the country. For me, relationship and conversation force me to look into myself and open the closets. After that, I would go where they need help building houses and work for a month or so…
a hut, a hammock, a beach
The same place I go to work now. With the same people that are around me now.
I get time with God whether or not people are around me.
Actually, I need that interaction to help me in the times I get to really be alone with Him.
Of course, I could just be blowing hot air, and being in a bubble without others might be the closest I’ll ever get to God.
I doubt it, though.
Usually that is when I notice He was with me all day.
The perfect place to just get alone with God for awhile?
How about somewhere that you could get to quickly without a great deal of effort, somewhere where you can unwind and relax really quickly, for me that would be Donegal in the north west of Ireland with its deserted beaches and the wind in your hair during the day and a warm fire in a cosy bar to come home to at night for live music,Guinness,good food and laughter.
At the top of the Vrtba gardens in Prague. (Just google it.)
Cool, it’s great to see where people would go to get alone with God. Sometimes for me too near my own routine and way of living is too close. It is those times I have to break out of my routines and let God work on deeper issues usually.
Just thinking about my entry……………it sounds too much like a holiday break, but then a lot of them do. Maybe I should have written,”wherever the real Shack is”. Discuss.
For me, it’s gotta be a log cabin in the Smoky Mountains. I wouldn’t feel a need for total seclusion, but would love to have time there to paint, pray, and take up the guitar like I’ve been talking about doing forever. Stuff that I think God would like to see me doing:)
in my garden. for me, the greatest luxury would be to be able to concentrate on growing veg without interruption from work! soil always makes me think of god – and the garden is far enough away from the phone and the television to find peace enough to think – but near enough to those I love not to feel cast adrift.
I changed my mind.
Spiraling down to earth with a parachute that did not open.
– Steve
Where I would go to get closer to god is no other than a country driven by war or hatred. to see what he would advise me to do in order to overcome.
Steve,
That is about the best answer yet!
Is is too late to change mine?
Some of the times when I feel closest to God are when I close my mind to the pressures of adult life (work, bills, chores) and spend time with my kids playing and talking. I’m not alone as you mention, but those times always remind me of the faithfulness of youth and of the deep, Fatherly love that God has for me.
These are lessons that I hold close to my heart when Monday comes around and I’m thrown back into the hard, cold world.
Roland,
Thanks Pal! Naw, it’s not too late…go ahead…change it up…God won’t mind!