I (Joel) recently finished a book that I would recommend for you to read, if you haven’t already. The book is “Too Busy Not To Pray” by Bill Hybels. This is a very popular book which many have read; I just have not had the “time” to get around to reading it. But with my recent travels I have been able to catch enough free time to get it read.
The book does a great job of covering the overall reasons to pray, ways to pray, difficulties in prayer, etc., as well as Pastor Hybels sharing at a personal level his development in his prayer life. I found it to be immensely helpful for me. I have been very interested in reading it for quite some time because I really identity with the title. I am definitely a person who keeps himself busy. I am happiest when I am consumed with the work of ministry and feeling stretched in my time and energy to get everything accomplished. At the same time, I understand the danger in that. I know that when I am not taking good, daily time spent with my Lord to connect with Him and be refreshed by His spirit that my energy will run out or if it doesn’t, my sincere Christian attitude and patience will. Pastor Hybels did an excellent job of explaining who he is and I saw my similarities in him and saw how he has fallen into similar traps. He provided excellent, easily followed practices to make a daily time of connection with the Lord a part of one’s life.
I have a feeling that I am not the only one that has lived in the U.S. faced-paced culture that has had this problem. Maybe some of you can identify with what I am saying. If so and if you haven’t read this book yet, I would recommend giving it a shot. It is an easy read as Pastor Hybels writes in a way that is not too deep or heavy and one can easily can connect with. Plus, there are a lot of practical solutions that he provides. I very much enjoyed this book.
The Santiago Partnership