Meditation, Memorization & More

Good morning, my name is Mark. I'm one of the pastors. I want to welcome all of you here in this room next door and venue Facebook live. We're so glad that you join us today, and before we dive into the message, I have a 2020 update for you. Our current project is to build a college center and coffee house as close to Cabrillo College as we possibly can. The slab is in, and we are still working on some of the underground utilities and drainage, putting back together some of the repairs that we had to do between this building and Munski Hall.

But in about two weeks, the structural steel will arrive, and that's when the building starts to kind of rise out of the ground. You'll be able to see the skeleton of it; it's going to be all very exciting. So please continue to keep this in your prayers, and thank you so much for your ongoing financial support, which is making this possible. If you are new to all of this and you would like to have an impact on college students and our community at large, I invite you to check out our 2020 vision on our website, or you can also grab a brochure out in the center of the lobby right after church today.

Well, now I invite you to grab your message notes as we continue with our series, Rhythm, about the spiritual practices of Jesus. We're specifically looking at how to make spaces in our lives, especially during this time of Lent, room for our relationship with God and with others. And here's why we need this. I read a fascinating article in the Washington Post called "Why Being Busy Makes Us Feel So Good." The author put together a focus group, and this is what she discovered. One man says he works 72 hours a week because everyone else at his office does. He's thinking about cutting back on sleep so he can be more productive. Good luck with that.

A woman says the last time she had a moment for herself was when she went for her annual mammogram. Another says she has decided that life is too hectic to have kids ever. Then a woman bursts in, apologizing for being late to this focus group convened precisely to discuss the fast pace of modern life. She got stuck in traffic, she explains, to which the author adds, "We are not in New York, Washington, Los Angeles, or another frenetic type-A city. We're in Fargo, North Dakota." She continues, "People now tell pollsters that they're too busy to register to vote, too busy to make friends outside the office, to take a vacation, to sleep, to have sex