There was a season in my life and ministry when everything seemed to be in place. The work was meaningful. The schedule was active. From the outside, it might have appeared that things were exactly as they should be. But underneath all of that, there was a quiet awareness I couldn’t ignore. Something was missing. It wasn’t a crisis. It wasn’t burnout. It was more subtle than that. It was a sense that even while doing many of the right things, something deeper in my life with God was not fully forming. I was reading Scripture. I was praying. I was leading. I was serving. But there was a difference between doing things for God and being with God, and I was beginning to feel that gap more clearly.

That awareness didn’t come all at once. It grew slowly, over time. Moments of stillness would expose it. Times of reflection would bring it into focus. I began to realize that much of my spiritual life had been shaped around activity and responsibility, rather than a steady, relational rhythm of abiding in God’s presence. I didn’t have language for it yet, but I was beginning to long for something more rooted. Something more consistent. Something that could carry me, not just in moments of strength, but in every season. That longing became the starting point of a journey. I began to search, not for something new, but for something deeper—something that had been present in the life of the Church long before me, something that could help shape not just what I did, but who I was becoming.

That search eventually led me to the Christian Practices. At first, I didn’t fully understand what I was stepping into. I simply knew that I needed a different kind of rhythm in my life with God. Not just spontaneous moments of connection, but a way of living that would consistently bring me back to Him. Looking back, I can see that what I was really longing for was not more structure, but more presence. Not more activity, but deeper formation. And that is where this journey begins.

In this series, I want to walk through that journey with you. Not as an expert, but as someone who has been learning, adjusting, and being shaped along the way. We will talk about the Daily Office and how it first took shape in this desire. We will explore how rhythms began to shape my days. We will look at how devotional books like Daily Psalt Intake, Daily Sage Intake, and Daily Strength Training emerged over time. But more importantly, we will keep coming back to this truth: the practices are not the goal. They are simply a means of returning, again and again, to relationship with God. If you have ever felt like something might be missing… if you have ever sensed a gap between doing and being… if you have ever longed for a deeper, more steady life with God… then you are already standing at the beginning of this same journey.

Steve Lawes serves as the lead pastor of Keys Vineyard Church, founder of the Online Bible Institute Network, and leads the Christian Practices initiative through Tower of Praise, Inc. His heart is to help people grow in a steady and authentic relationship with God through simple, accessible rhythms of Scripture, prayer, and spiritual formation.