Own The Offseason

Question of the week from one of our teens:

“When I go on a trip, it’s so easy to feel God but when I’m at home, it’s so hard.  Why???“

Camps, conferences and mission trips are perfect places for spiritual growth for this one reason:  They break the routine of “normal life” at home.  They let you push pause on “real life” and experience a different picture of what could be.  When you change what you normally do, you get something brand new.

Camps, conferences and mission trips are terrible for sustained spiritual growth for this one reason:  They break the routine of “normal life” at home.  By pausing “real life,” a spiritual high is reached separate from any firm connection to reality.  When you equate an experience with a special event, you begin to live from event to event.

Camps, conferences and mission trips are the spiritual equivalent of the “game” in sports.  When you’re in-season and preparing for games week-in and week-out, your body reaches a peak performance level.  But if you don’t maintain your training in the offseason, you’ll quickly fall out of contention.  To be successful, you have to own the offseason.  You have to focus when it feels like it doesn’t count so you’re prepared when it does.

Spiritual growth depends on what happens in the offseason, between your spiritual highs.  Camps, conferences and mission trips are incredible tools for spurring spiritual growth but are terrible for sustaining it.  Own the offseason.