I want to start this month with a personal note of gratitude to all who prayed through my Mom's recent surgery for a repair to an Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm. Her age (I'll leave that for her to share) and a couple of other health issues provided further possible complicating factors to the surgery. Even the surgeon was not sure she would make it.

Many of you "traveled" with me via my blog (www.pastorpaul.blogspot.com) as I drove to Texas and back. It was a profound trip for me. All of the Kuzma kids had gathered for the first time in years. We spent the week before surgery together reminiscing, laughing, crying, and conversing.

Mom's surgery was deemed " as smooth as it could have gone" by the surgeon. The first few days of recovery were difficult, but she was released from the hospital after 10 days and is growing stronger with each day. I have always known my Mom to be strong, but this experience took her strength to a whole new level in my eyes.

I am calling this month's article to you "Life In The Slow Lane" because it is what I am more deeply convinced than ever is a word from God for me, and for us. Living life in its slow lane is NOT always possible. I am not sure anyone can argue that the fast lane of life is enticing, addicting, a whole lot more "fun" for some, and suspiciously dangerous too!

My experience with my Mom through this bout of surgery encouraged me again to be sure to take life at God's pace, not mine. I find the challenge to be that the pace of life we live is more often based on the culture around us than it is on how God would have us live it.

All any of us have to do is look around at the people we love, and consider the shortness of life, to be reminded that we are, as James puts it, "but a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes."

Probably the most drastic example of this would be when someone we know and love is taken from us by death. It was a consideration in my Mom's case, and I am so glad, and we rejoiced, when that would not be the case for now. Another painful example is the recent news of Stephen Hampton's death at just 21 years of age (see sidebar).

I would further suggest that it's not just death that takes those we love from us. Sometimes it's divorce, sometimes it's the loss of friendships no matter the reasons of moving away or disagreement, sometimes it's the simple fact of our kids growing up, moving away from us and our relationship with them changing.

Any of those circumstances and more cause us to consider how we are living life in terms of its pace; its "cadence"; its rhythm, if you will. I don't mean to infer that we all should live life at the same pace. We are all built ... engineered .. created ... differently from one another, though we are all made by the same Creator.

Your pace may not be my pace; my pace may not be your pace. The point is that while we may all have a different pace, we almost all agree on one thing ... if we live life by the pace IT demands, we hold more of a chance that we will miss what God has for us than if we will listen for HIS rhythm for our lives.

For more on finding your own rhythm, I encourage you to order a set of our just completed series on Sabbath, called "You Deserve A Break Today! Sabbath In A 24/7/365 World".

And, by all means, I certainly hope your Summer is filled with relaxation, refreshment, down time, and an opportunity to more adequately discover the pace of life that God has for you. One thing is guaranteed, you won't find it in the fast lane. It requires regular times of slow lane living.