Learning to Shut Up.

Later this week, I'll be leading a group of middle and high school students to Chicago on a mission trip. In expectation for the trip I've been spending a lot of time in prayer. If you've spent enough time around church you learn the ways you're supposed to pray. There are certain things you pray before a meal (such as asking God to nourish this food to our bodies, as I did today as I was about to eat cheese bread at Giovanni's, as if there was any possible way that it could have nourished my body). There are things you pray when you're about to start a Bible study, or deliver a sermon, or start a road trip. And then there are things you pray when you're about to go on a mission trip. You ask God to get the hearts of the people ready that you're going to minister to, you ask God to give you courage, you ask God for safety. None of which are bad prayers, except I found myself praying those things not because it was from my heart, but because those are the things you're supposed to pray. It's almost as if we believe there are formulas, and if we pray the right formula, God will bless what we're doing. I was also finding as I was praying, that the time I was in prayer was me doing all the talking. Which says a lot about how big or small I think God is.
I think I know a lot about basketball. I've been around it all my life. My dad was a high school coach when I was growing up. So when other kids went home and played after school, I went with my dad to basketball practice. When other families were watching sitcoms at night, we were watching basketball on tv. I played basketball in high school and college and I coach high school basketball now. So I've been around the game quite a bit, and feel I know quite a bit about it. So when I have conversations with people about basketball, I talk in a way as if I know a lot about it. But there have been certain times I've had the chance to be around some big time college basketball coaches. Guys that have coached at the highest levels. Guys that have won a lot of games. Guys that have done, seen, experienced more in the game of basketball than I ever have or will. During my sophomore year of college, our basketball team worked a coaches clinic in which there were a lot of coaches that came and spoke. During one of the breaks in between sessions, we had the chance to talk with some of the coaches about basketball, and a funny thing happened. I shut up. I didn't have anything to say. In fact the only words that came out of my mouth were questions, to try to learn from them, to see things as they see them. I knew that what I knew about basketball was nothing compared to what they know about basketball. So I shut up. And listened. And asked them what they see.
So as I was praying about the trip, talking endlessly to God about how much I think I know, I felt God's Spirit say, "Andrew, shut up." (Even though that phrase wasn't allowed in my house growing up, I'm pretty sure that it's a phrase that God uses, especially to get my attention.) Even though I've been around church all my life, and even though I've been on a lot of mission trips, I have no idea what God wants to do on this trip. None. Because he knows way more about life and love and ministry than I do or ever will. So maybe instead of me trying to tell God what he should do, maybe I should ask him what He needs to do, and shut up, and wait for the answer. Maybe that's what prayer is about. Listening, waiting, and finding out what God is into so that I can be into it too.