{"id":589,"date":"2009-03-30T18:28:00","date_gmt":"2009-03-31T00:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.195.124.95\/~redletu4\/turn-it-off\/"},"modified":"2009-03-30T18:28:00","modified_gmt":"2009-03-31T00:28:00","slug":"turn-it-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/turn-it-off\/","title":{"rendered":"Turn it off"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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\n\u201cI think the devil has made it his business to monopolize on three elements: Noise, Hurry and Crows\u2026Satan is quite aware of the power of silence.\u201d
\u2014 Jim Elliot<\/span><\/em>\n

\u201cJesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed\u201d
Luke 5:16
<\/em><\/span>
Mark Driscoll (of Mars Hill Church<\/a>) has a terrific piece in Relevant<\/a> magazine called \u201cSound Wisdom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Driscoll documents his life \u2013 he wakes to an alarm, turns on his blackberry, checks his email, listens to the radio while showering, watches TV while dressing, turns on the radio while driving to work. Once at work, his laptop plays songs and his cell phone vibrates all day.<\/p>\n

And on and on it goes. He is surrounded by constant noise.<\/p>\n

Driscoll finally found a way to say \u201cenough.\u201d
<\/em>
He found some example in Jesus, who took an entire 40 day period of silence in the desert before His public ministry.<\/p>\n

Driscoll takes an entire day away from all things electronic each month. Each hour, he takes a five minute break just to cleanse. Marcus Goodyear<\/a>, our friend at the High Calling also took a social media sabbatical.<\/p>\n

And in light (hah!) of last Saturday\u2019s \u201clights out hour<\/a>\u201d , perhaps we are just a little too comfortable with the electricity-driven noise that surrounds us. You don\u2019t have to do it for the planet, but maybe we should do it for our souls.
<\/em>
So\u2026what do you think about shutting down and turning out? Can you do it? How long? Leave your thoughts here.
<\/a>
\u201cI challenge you to spend the next 5 minutes in silence \u2014 \u201cunplug\u201d from your electronics, turn out the lights, close the door and simply stop whatever it is you\u2019re doing \u2014 and then just sit and bask in the silence. I think it\u2019s safe to say that God is at work even when we\u2019re not.\u201d \u2013 Mark Driscoll<\/span><\/em>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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