If I get one more reminder from my internist’s office in the form of a text, asking me to check-in on-line or from my iPhone “before” my doctor’s appointment! Then there is work, my day job. At the end of every quarter at New York Life, we have to type a paragraph regarding what we did well, and wouldn’t you know it, it’s called “Knowledge Check-In”.

There is another check-in that is even more important–our personal relationships. In the 29 years since Gina and I tied the knot, the night before Easter in 1995, checking in with each other is just as important as it was when we said “I do.”

Sometimes, because of our job responsibilities, it feels like we are passing by like ships in the night when we fall into bed. That’s why we value carving out time for each other. My favorite check-in activity is the nightly walk around our neighborhood.

Our most intimate conversations happen while we walk. There is something about walking and talking, expressing and listening. And I’d be lying if I said some of our conversations are not intense. Others are hysterical. Regardless, we choose to keep the lines of communication open. Because if we don’t, a wall goes up. And the more we refuse to take the time to check-in, the taller and wider the wall grows.

And the greatest relationship we could ever have is the one God makes available to us through Jesus. You and I can talk to God all because of Jesus, the great Intercessor, the great go-between. And with Him, we have the option of checking in or checking out. Our gentle God does not force Himself on us. But He does want us to want to come to Him. Unfortunately, some people need the cattle prod of adversity to wake them up to what is the most important relationship in the world.

Consider the man John Donne. In 1623, he checked-in with God from what he thought was his deathbed in London. He had been wrongly diagnosed with the bubonic plague, but he didn’t know he was misdiagnosed. And his check-in was not a one-time occurrence. He talked to God many, many times from his sickbed and author Philip Yancey took Donne’s words, reflections, and pravers, and made them easier to read and understand for us moderns in the devotional Undone.

Listen in to one of Donne’s conversations with God:

“I brought sin into the world with me, and have since heaped upon it an innumerable multitude of sins. I have sinned behind your back (if that’s possible), by willfully abstaining from church and from my service there. I have sinned before your face, by my hypocrisies in prayer, by my ostentation and pride in preaching your Word. I have sinned when my spirits are low, by complaining, and even when things go well, by being negligent of my faults. Thankfully, my gracious God, I know that despite all those sins, you will consider me as I was when you first wrote my name in the book of life.” (pg. 76)

Then there is the quadriplegic Joni Earekson Tada, the woman who dove off a pier one day off the coast of Virginia Beach. She was found unconscious and paralyzed from the neck down. She was only a teenager when her life dramatically changed. Joni checks in with God anytime and anywhere she finds herself. However, for her, it really occurs in only two places, from her wheelchair or the bed. Let her tell it:

“The power stick on my wheelchair has two speeds: a turtle image for “slow” and a rabbit image for “fast.” I usually wheel on rabbit speed, but that doesn’t mean I’m not at rest. I am constantly sitting down, immobile, and “still,” so I carry with me an enforced serenity. I thank the Lord that my paralysis provides a built-in sense of rest, even when I am on the go. As I am wheeling here and there, God’s presence goes with me, another blessing that comes with my neediness. There should be a bumper sticker on my wheelchair: “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest” (Exodus 33:14). No matter where my wheelchair takes me–whether I am busy with the work of the day or struggling to sleep at night–I am constantly aware of the presence of God. Again, I have my paralysis to thank for that, for “before I was afflicted I went astray” (Psalm 119:67). But now? I stay near Jesus. I stay near his Word. How else could I possibly smile in my afflictions?” (The Practice of the Presence of Jesus, pg.89)

I’m one of those guys who likes to make the Christian life practical. Otherwise, what is the point? So I created a “Corner Check-In.” It’s located in my downstairs office, behind the door. On a post-it note stuck to the monitor on my desk it reads: Feeling stressed, drained, or moody—Go to the corner check-in.

No, this is not where I empty myself in a journal, or read from the Bible or a devotional. This is a place where I stop for a minute or two or even longer at different times throughout the day, and check-in with El-Roi, the God who sees me and my circumstances. If I don’t check in with my Maker, I’m prone to check-out, meaning I’m tempted to take matters into my own hands. And we all know how that goes.

To check-in spiritually, is to admit the need for help, to check-in spiritually, is to ask God to intervene in the here and now, moment by moment.

For my corner check in it reads:

• Here I am. I lay down_____________________________________.
• Each moment is yours, and in this moment I feel_________________________________.
• Compassion is what I seek regarding_________________________________________.
• Keep me from being triggered by____________________________________________.
• I give you_______________________________________________________________.
• Now (for the rest of the day) I commit to______________________________________.

When was the last time you really checked in with God?

pictures courtesy of pexels.com except the corner check in pictures.