“In the quiet, I have stilled my soul like a child at rest…” These words are important words in my journey. They are from Psalm 131, verse 2, and are particularly impacting for me as sung by John Michael Talbot on his album ‘Come to the Quiet.’ I like his music and when he visited Lamb of God some years ago we had him minister in two large Pentecostal Auditoriums, and both were packed. I recall John and his team needed access to the Christchurch auditorium for checking acoustics and sound a day before the concert. Philip and I were way towards the back near the entrances and John ‘somewhere over there in the darkness of the stage’. The auditorium was in near darkness and then suddenly this gifted guitar playing and voice rang forth ‘You are my Hiding Place Oh Lord…’ Awesome indeed. 
 
The recent past has been particularly busy with a flight back from Fiji then six visits to other branches [of the Lamb of God national community], plus six international guests with us for a range of days from eleven to sixteen. Plus the ever-draining ‘no progress’ on our personal earthquake related claims, nor any progress with the Lamb of God Centre claims. 
 
In and following such busy times, I find a restoration of focus, peace and ‘balance’ with God essential for me. And generally I find this in three ways. The first is to seek the quiet of an empty church, or to attend a church service that is not intent on filling every moment with busyness but rather gives plenty of quiet time for reflecting and ‘soaking in’. The second is to find a place of isolation in nature, and for me that generally means up into the mountains and enjoying working out on a reasonable climb on a ridge, or up a valley and into a snowfield. But I also enjoy just sitting in silence in the early morning, be it near a beach, under a tree in the garden, or near a river, and watching birds and wildlife start their busy days. In all such circumstances I find those special moments where ‘In the quiet, I have stilled my soul like a child at rest…’ 

Roger Foley is the senior coordinator of the Lamb of God Community. He and his wife Veronica live in Christchurch, New Zealand.