Our lives are more fast-paced and hectic, perhaps, than ever before. There are millions of "must do" things popping up. Our email, blackberry, text message, IM, Twitter, blogs ... they all fill our ear with "so and so needs this".

How do we work through all of this and do what Christ is telling us? We get alone and we pray.

What fascinates me about this story in Mark 1:35-38 is not the fact that Jesus got up early and slipped away to a deserted place to pray. The huge revelation for me is his response to the "urgent" need of "everyone looking for him". What does He do?

He says "eh, that's cool, let's go somewhere else, though".

Because of his connection to God in prayer, Jesus knew where He must go.

Put yourself in Jesus' shoes ... the disciples find you and say "hey, where have you been, everybody is looking for you!"? Our typical response would be to jump up quickly and say "oh, Ok - where are they, let's go".

That's not what Jesus did. He said, let's go somewhere else. He'd been instructed by God where to go, and the urgency of "everyone looking for him" did not deter his course.

Without prayer, we will never have such clear direction.
Pray without ceasing.

Mark 1:35-38