Open your eyes....and be still

Thoughts for the day.... PSALM 46:10 says "be still and know that I am God"

BE STILL! Now that is a concept I think we know very little about, but I want you to make a decision. Below I am going to list some of the latest statistics that I found and then I want you to ask yourself a couple of questions. First, when is the last time you were still? Second, what do you need to do, or not do that would allow you to be still.

So here are some of the statistics.....

*There are an estimated 329 million t.v.'s owned in America which is greater than the entire US
population.

*The average young person spends 3.5 hours watching t.v.
2.5 hours on the internet
1.7 hours listening to music
2.5 hours gaming

*Most teenagers use at least one form of media 77% of the time

*Young people send between 2,000 and 4,000 text per month.

* Of students who have social network sites, 51% check it more than once a day.
22% check more than ten times a day

*9 out of 10 young people multitask while watching t.v. and the other forms of media
are surfing web, using cell phones or emailing.

Pretty alarming statistics wouldn't you say. This means that 77% of the time we are watching, playing or listening to something while we are talking or texting. If I understand the statistics the correctly we basically have NO TIME TO BE STILL!!!

So you ask, why be still? Well, I believe it is for several reasons. First of all, scripture says that most often God speaks in the stillness. I mean, how can you ever hear the voice of God if the only voices you can hear are over the ipod, cell phone or T.V. Many of you have said yes to the icount challenge, saying "Yes" I want to follow Christ and make a difference. Well let me ask you this, how will you know where to follow Christ or how to follow Christ if you can't ever hear him tell you? God says he wants us to be quick to listen and slow to speak. He says to be still and Know that He is God, because it is in the stillness that he can get our attention.

So that brings me to my second reason for believing we need to be still. Stillness brings reflection. Most of us stay so busy in life and so filled up with media that we take no time to think about who we are, who we should be and what we should be doing with our lives. Stillness causes us to take a long look at ourselves. Stillness leads us to being better people. We have to be still to evaluate our lives. We have to be still for God to speak to us. We have to be still to get filled up. If my life is suppose to count, then it needs to be full of something worth counting for. If all I have is t.v. cell phones and computers then my life can only count for technology. But if I am full of Christ then my life can count for Him. It is true I believe, what goes in is what comes out. Well, if we have no Christ going in, then how can Christ come out? It is my hope for each of you that you will create a new statistic for your life. Create the statistic of time spent being STILL.

God wants to speak to you. He wants to Guide you. He wants to work in you and through you.... will you BE STILL long enough to let Him?

So I end with the same questions I started with. When is the last time you have been still? What do you need to do, or not do to make stillness happen in your life? My prayer is that what ever it is you will BE STILL!!!!

MAKE IT COUNT!