The bookcase peering over my right shoulder as I type is populated by half-finished books – books on leadership, books on spiritual discipline, books on how to be a manly man, and many books on how to read The Book.  I am the type of person who loves to visit book tables at conferences or browse through Christian book catalogs, only to turn away, hyperventilating at the staggering amount of information that I do not know.  I constantly feel that if I could only read every book ever written on how to follow God or how to pastor a church, then I would reach some invincible expert status where everything would come naturally.

 And then I hear something like this, and I wonder if I’ve got it all wrong:
“I feel simply carried along each hour, doing my part in a plan which is far beyond myself. This sense of cooperation with God in little things is what so astonishes me, for I never have felt it this way before. I need something, and turn round to find it waiting for me. I must work, to be sure, but there is God working along with me. To know this gives a sense of security and assurance for the future which is also new to my life. I seem to have to make sure of only one thing now, and every other thing “takes care of itself,” or I prefer to say what is more true, God takes care of all the rest. My part is to live this hour in continuous inner conversation with God and in perfect responsiveness to his will. To make this hour gloriously rich. This seems to be all I need think about.”

I’m blown away by the last line of that journal entry:  “This [living in continuous inner conversation with God and in perfect responsiveness to His will] seems to be all I need think about.”  All those half-finished books behind me playing on my inadequacies?  Not important.  Those conferences that promise to raise my game to a higher level?  Not necessary.  Just one thing is needed – unceasing communion with God and a commitment to respond to what He reveals.  What would it look like if I truly believed this?

Now, before you dismiss Laubach as some wacko monk out of touch with the real world, consider his resume after embarking on this experiment.  Educated at Princeton and Columbia, Laubach spent much of his life as a missionary in the Philippines.  He is best known as the founder of the World Literacy Crusade and the developer of the “Each One Teach One” literacy program, which is responsible for teaching between 60-100 million people worldwide to read in their own language.  He lived among the Moros, a Muslim people who looked upon Christian Filipinos like Laubach as their enemy.  Although the Moros were almost entirely illiterate when he met them, by the time he left approximately half of the 90,000 people could read and write, preparing them for life in the modern world while helping them preserve pride in their people and their history.  In addition, he helped them develop industries, health services, and even introduced a better seed for their agriculture.  As a result, the leading Muslim priests in the region told their people that Laubach would help them to know God, calling him “A friend of Islam.”

I think we need to seriously consider Laubach’s experiment.  Jesus told his disciples to not run around anxiously chasing after things like food and clothing, but instead to “Seek first [God’s] kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33). Laubach found that as he devoted his energy towards continuous communion with God and submission to His will, he was “carried along,” part of a greater plan, with God working right along with him.  Listen again to more of his words:

All during the day, in the chinks of time between the things we find ourselves obliged to do, there are moments when our minds ask:  ‘what next?’  In these chinks of time, ask Him:  ‘Lord, think Thy thoughts in my mind.  What is on Thy mind for me to do now?’  When we ask Christ, ‘What next?’ we tune in and give Him a chance to pour His ideas through our enkindled imagination.  If we persist, it becomes a habit.”

And after reflecting on two months of his experiment, Laubach wrote: 

“This concentration upon God is strenuous, but everything else has ceased to be so. I think more clearly, I forget less frequently. Things which I did with a strain before, I now do easily and with no effort whatever. I worry about nothing, and lose no sleep. I walk on air a good part of the time. Even the mirror reveals a new light in my eyes and face. I no longer feel in a hurry about anything. Everything goes right. Each minute I meet calmly as though it were not important. Nothing can go wrong excepting one thing. That is that God may slip from my mind if I do not keep on my guard. If He is there, the universe is with me. My task is simple and clear.”

Two Sundays ago I stressed Jesus’ words in John 17:3 that eternal life, a quality of life beyond anything else one can experience in this world, is essentially a relationship with God.  Frank Laubach’s life is a testimony to this eternal life.  In His relentless pursuit of a relationship with God, he experienced a quality of life that is incredible to read about.  It wasn’t a quality of life marked by riches, possessions, or earthly comforts, but instead by wonder, beauty, significance, life transformation and eternal impact on the world.

Anyone up for the experiment?  Find a way to remind yourself to turn your mind to God as often as possible in the course of a day.  Put a rock in your pocket, or a cross on your computer, or a picture on your desk.  Do something that will help continual communion with and submission to God become a habit.  As Laubach put it, “this concentration upon God is strenuous.”  Don’t expect it to be easy, and don’t be discouraged if you only remember a few times a day at first to turn to God in communion and submission.  Just imagine what it would look like to be able to say, as Laubach did, “everything goes right,” or “I worry about nothing, and lose no sleep.”  Imagine what it would be like to see God using your life to affect 100 million lives the way he used an ordinary man like Frank Laubach.

There is a power available to you right now, a quality of life within your reach, if you would only turn from living for yourself and tap into it.  Turn to Jesus right now, and try the experiment for yourself.   

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