We sometimes ask that of old schoolfriends, but what about this bloke?…

Here is an extract from Robert Drewe’s autobiographical book The Shark Net.

He devotes one whole chapter to the Billy Graham phenomena in 1959. He describes the climactic moment of the service:

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His arms swept up. His hands were cupped, seeming to draw us in to him. ‘Christ stands with the man and woman in the street,’ he said. ‘Repent. Believe in Christ the Lord. Be saved.’ Then suddenly quieter now, he invited everyone to come forward and receive Christ. A tremor flickered through the audience.

It seemed a lot of

Perth

people were aching to be saved. In every row people shifted in their seats and began to stand, to respond, to join him on the stage. Soon they were deciding for Christ all over the place – healthy people, cripples, old and young, the well dressed and the casual. He kept quietly urging and beckoning us to join him. It was hypnotic. It was contagious.

The people getting up from the seats didn’t look like religious maniacs. They looked like your average movie audience on a Saturday night. I recognised neighbours and a contingent of biys from

Wesley

College

whom I’d played sports against. I saw my friend John Sturkey. I saw the chemist’s wife and my old math’s teacher. Two rows along I saw Eric the Dunlop delivery driver, sitting by a sign saying ‘South Perth Methodists’. People stood up all along the rows of chairs and people began sliding down from the roofs of the cattle, horse and pig pavilions. The chemist’s wife stood up. Eric stood up and joined Billy Graham. People were having conversions all around me.

Why is this significant? Because the ‘Eric’ he mentions is the infamous WA serial killer – Eric Cooke who wreaked havoc in the western suburbs of

Perth

in the late 50’s and 60’s, with two innocent people getting charged with his crimes.

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So – let’s assume Eric made a genuine decision to follow Jesus that night (he was probably well aware of his sin). And yet he continued to kill other women.

Where is Eric now? Is the grace of God so huge that a one off commitment ensures one’s eternal destiny, or do we need to ‘prove’ our salvation in some way?

This morning I had breakfast with the Baptist Youth Ministry exec team and we spent time discussing the future of the whole BYM scene.

The morning began like this:

‘G’day Thaddeus (not his real name) How are you?’

‘Busy.’

‘Oh right – is that good?’ I asked…

We began to discuss if being busy is a bad thing. Just as we were getting into the conversation Bartolmew (also not his real name) arrived.

‘Hows it going Bart?’

‘Fla… good thanks – busy but good’.

As we waited for Judas (yep!) to arrive we got into conversation.

The key question was, if we are enjoying what we are doing and if we are people who are energised by activity and productivity is that a bad thing? Busyness does seem to get a bad rap at times in Christian circles. Sometimes with due cause, but I am wondering is it another one of those pendulm swings…

Is it that we once so deified busyness that now we have overcompensated and elevated ‘stillness’ to a place where God did not intend either?

Or is it just that we are all wired differently?

I think it is usually unhealthy to be too busy, but then what’s ‘too busy’ for me may be a walk in the park for you. On the other hand you may look at my schedule and feel weary just thinkng about it.

When we speak of too busy we need to ask ‘too busy for what?’ I gauge my own level of busyness by how I am connecting with Danelle and my kids, how I am going in my disciplines (spiritual and physical) and also how much I am feeling in control of life.

Typically Danelle warns me if I am pushing the ceiling (hasn’t happened for about 4 years now) and I am pretty well aware myself now of what is a healthy pace to run at. I am happy to accept busy periods and to see life as happening in a rhythm. Some months I take it easy, some I go like crazy.

I am a person with a pretty high capacity for work and I enjoy doing a whole heap of things, so to have a fairly mundane job with little challenge would kill me quicker than being overworked.

People speak of ‘burnout’, but I am reminded that burnout is not so much caused by overwork as by a lack of hope. Its when we are working hard for no result and nothing looks like developing that we are likely to find ourselves struggling.

Too busy?

Hmm… what do you say?