5 Minutes With Me

Discipleship Journal magazine recently started a new feature in which they conduct a five minute interview with a Christian author, speaker, etc. As I was reading in a recent issue I started wondering how I would answer the questions asked of the interviewee...so I decided to find out by asking and answering the questions right here. (the questions are paraphrased to avoid any "issues")

Q: What have you been learning from God lately?
A: I feel like I've been getting some answers to questions I've been wrestling with over the past few months regarding the character of God...things about God's goodness and the way He works in our lives. I feel like I was getting to a "make or break" point in some ways, but God has been faithful to give me what I need to know. This is not always everything I want to know, but it's enough.
I've also been working on a Bible study about contentment, so I'm learning about that and the thought process necessary for a life of contentment.

Q: What's the most important thing you've learned about following God?
A: Grace. Not only am I "saved by grace," but I must walk in grace. Anything good that I have or am is by the grace of God. Jesus summed it up well when He said, "Apart from Me you can do nothing."

Q: How do you keep spending time with God from getting dull?
A: I gave up trying to have a "quiet time." Before you label me a heretic, let me explain. No where in Scripture are we told to have a "quiet time." We are told to know and meditate on God's Word and to pray. Well, there's more than one way to do this. Do I read and study God's Word? You bet. Do I spend a certain amount of time during a certain time of day doing this? Nope, and I no longer feel guilty for that. There's nothing wrong with having a schedule and sticking to it, but if you don't or can't, it doesn't mean you're a bad Christian.
Also, on a more practical level, I've been reading up on various spiritual disciplines and am slowly trying to implement more into my life.

Q: Who has been influential to your spiritual growth?
A: My family. That would be the place I first learned the fear of the Lord. :) I also had a great-grandmother that was a real prayer warrior. That leaves an impression. My pastor, who is an excellent teacher of the Word. In a broader sense, I would say many Christian authors/writers, because I love to read and God has used them to teach me a great deal.

Q: Do you have a mentor now?
A: No...other than those writers/authors I mentioned above. I think I would benefit greatly from a mentoring and/or accountability type relationship though.

Q: If you could experience an event from the Bible, which would you choose?
A: Hmmm...there's so many to choose from. I think I would choose to see Jesus in action, teaching and healing people.

Q: What do you think people would be surprised to know about you?
A: Probably how sensitive I am to certain things and how much I do care about other people. I'm just not always good at expressing it, at least not in a way that makes sense to other people.

Q: Someday I would like to...
A: ummm...be normal, see Israel, play guitar, and mostly be able to look back and see that I made a difference somehow, in some way, in somebody's life.

So, how would you answer any or all of these questions?