t was good to get the Christ In Youth group back from Illinois after a week of challenging messages and encounter groups at the University in Carbondale. They were tired and ready to be home. They were also changed and many had new priorities.

Our spiritual journey may take us many places and find us in lots of different activities. We will often feel compelled to simply "do more for God" while believing that perhaps if we do more we'll feel more peace and satisfaction. After all, there is an endless supply of "ministry opportunities". We sustain pangs of guilt if there is something we should be doing but aren't. Well-meaning folks with ten jobs in the Lord's service are often the very ones who feel the most burdened.

Seminars, service projects, and ministry opportunities provide a means to grow closer to God, but can become a substitute for really knowing Him the way He invites us to do. The evidence for the problem is seen in busy church members who just disappear one day and in ministers who simply "burn out" and move away.

Jesus often left the crowds and His disciples to "go to a desolate place and pray". Elijah ran and hid in a cave while God displayed His awesome power, but finally heard Him in a whisper. The apostle Paul said that after doing anything he could to win some to Christ he had to control himself or he would be "disqualified".

The stakes couldn't be higher. If these spiritual giants knew they needed more than another right thing to do, don't we?

At Hillside we make it a goal that people get to really know God while they serve.