I Wonder--May 14

Recently I was sitting in my office meeting with a Brazilian missionary, Felipe Mattis. He is bringing God's word for me this week on Pentecost. Felipe has a long history with this church. So this meeting was my chance to get to know him. Needless to say, I surprised him. . . But not in how you expect. 

After about 5 minutes of small talk, Felipe mentioned the passion all Brazilians share: Soccer. It came up because he was telling me about his travel from Sao Paolo to Miami and then on to South Carolina. He was amazed a the large impact that Leo Messi was having on America. 

Little did Felipe know that soccer is a passion of mine: a deep rich passion. 

So for the next hour we spoke about soccer. We spoke about the 1994 World Cup and how Brazil beat my beloved Italy in the final match in a penalty shootout when the best player in the world (Roberto Baggio) missed the final shot. 

We talked about team USA and how they have played over the years. 

Messi came up and how he just won his first World Cup. A proud Brazilian rooted for a Argentinian because he deserved to win one. 

Finally, as a Brazilian we had to talk about the 7-1 loss to Germany in a semifinal game in 2014: a game that Brazil hosted and was favored to win. It was devastating to watch. An old soccer joke is that 'soccer is a game that 22 people chance the ball around the pitch (field) for 90 minutes, and in the end, the Germans win.' On that day that was true. The Germans dominated the match from start to finish. 7-1 in a soccer game is like Clemson losing a national semifinal game 49-7 (oh, and it was 35-0 in the first quarter if you want to push the image further). Hard to watch... 

With my Pentecost this week, and Felipe preaching, my mind was still recalling the conversation as I opened my devotional this morning and read about a German spiritual practice that I wonder about for you: meddachschlop. It means 'a little nap.' And it is a spiritual practice. 

In our lives we are so busy running and 'doing' as much as we can as fast as we can. We narrate the experience on social media and to anyone who will listen. What might happen, and what would our lives become if we followed the Germans again and scheduled a little: meddachschlop? A little time to rest and recover? 

I wonder if you could find that time, even just 15 minutes for the "little German nap?'