The Big Diehl

Recently I’ve been extremely busy. Now let me reiterate that … extremely busy. When I get stressed like that, I tend to do a hard shift to “Control Country” when it comes to my life and I get tunnel focus. Seriously - if it doesn’t help me accomplish something on my calendar or to-do list, I don’t do it. I’m not saying that’s good - I’m just saying that’s what I do. When this goes on for several days it gets to an unhealthy state… I start thinking things like… (I’m not even joking here…):

“I don’t have time to eat a meal — that’s time wasted.”

“I’ve needed to use the bathroom for 2 hours, but I can finish these three other things before I take that break. Urinating wouldn’t be the most productive use of my time - it’d be time wasted.”

“24 hours in a day - I’ll spend 8 at my office and 10 working at home. I can relax with the remaining 6 hours.”

Obviously with this pattern, it would be easy for me to have this “wasted time” mentality when it comes to my God time as well. But that’s the worst thing I could do. In the stressful times is when I need the God time the MOST.

So last Friday night God was dealing with me about this, and I just came to the conclusion that if my “God time” was wasted time, then I want to get wasted. I want to absolutely ruin and waste my life if that’s the case. All the stuff that’s “me” can be ruined and wasted if it means being closer to Jesus. I love Jesus.

Immediately after that moment, I started shouting out my prayer and promise to God. Then I began spontaneously singing it to a melody that I had actually written 8 months ago.

I want to be wasting my life seeking You. I won’t let anybody get in my way of reaching You. I want to be wasting my life finding You. And I won’t let the devil get my focus away from You.

It took me several hours figuring out how to use my new recording equipment, but I used this song to experiment with the features. I’m posting the whole deal… including a long and snazzy hip-hop keyboard solo and some very out-of-tune background vocals (sorry…). There’s some rough spots, but give me a break its the first thing I’ve ever done on my new equipment. Give it a listen, click here.

Lyrics and Recording are copyright Adam Diehl 2008…. YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST!

No joke — I actually woke up this morning, got a cup of orange juice and for some reason just blurted out, “My name is John Daker!” This video has been a favorite of mine for quite some time — I just can’t help but laugh. Enjoy.

Earlier today I was hungry, so I went to “Steak ‘N Shake” and took care of it. The Frisco Melt platter took care of my hunger.

This past week I spent on vacation in Kansas City where I spent time at the International House of Prayer. This is a prayer meeting that started in September 1999 and has never stopped - 24/7. We’re talking over a hundred people praying all the time - even in the middle of the night. It was an incredible experience. The first day I arrived in the evening so I just spent a short hour and a half with God at the IHOP before I was tired and needed to sleep. The second day I was there for 3 - 4 hours. By the end of my trip I was so hungry to just be with God that I would stay at the IHOP prayer room for 14 hours straight. There was nothing that I wanted to do besides be with God. The more I was with God, the more I had a hunger for Him. I learned that you never really “finish” at the IHOP, you just “leave.”

Before my vacation, I would often spend my evenings doing more work (or at the very least planning for the upcoming days). Now that my vacation is over, my brain is trying to get back into my typical work patterns - I keep trying to think of another project I can work on, but I’m constantly distracted by God.

That’s right - I’m distracted by God. I guess you could say that God is bugging me right now. My brain wants to “get stuff done,” but my Spirit is so excited to spend more time with God. I need my brain to understand that spending time with God is the most important thing in the world.

Often we consider prayer the boring thing every Christian must endure. That’s not at all the paradigm of prayer (and worship) that David shared in Psalm 16, “You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.” (Emphasis mine).

Eternal PLEASURES? Yea… pleasure.

I like pleasure. I’m going to go get me some.