“Wanna Get Away?”

I used to love those “Wanna get away” ads for Southwest Airline. Have you ever felt the need to get away from the noise and to have some “alone time” with God?

After high school, I attended Gordon College for a year or so, before transferring to Philadelphia College of Bible (now Cairn University), where I eventually graduated. That year at Gordon was a challenging one for me for many reasons. One of them was sharing a dormitory room that freshman year with three other students. You can imagine the difficulty any of us had finding time to be alone.  

One of the things I liked to do when desperate for time to myself and my God, was to find my way to the old college chapel. If it was empty,  I would climb up to the old pipe organ, and begin playing hymns full organ! It would take me into heaven itself. The old chapel building no longer exists having been replaced by a much larger and nicer new one. I have no idea what became of the old organ, since it too has been replaced. But the old chapel and that organ was a refuge for me in those days. God spoke to me there, and I spoke to God.

That was more than fifty years ago, but I still find the need to get away to be alone with God. Sometimes it has been rising at an early hour finding refuge in a wicker chair on the lanai of our Florida home. Other times refuge is found on long morning walks around the neighborhood. I desperately need and covet those times with God. Jesus Himself felt the need for such times during His earthly ministry (Matthew 14:13 and 23).

The Desert Fathers of the early church may have taken solitude with God to extremes. But I think most Christians today are barely acquainted with the God they profess to know. Sometimes I’m convicted by my own superficial relationship with God. Does my heart beat with His? Do my thoughts resonate with the notions of God? Imagine the difference a life saturated with the fullness of God would mean to the hurting disillusioned people we encounter every day.