The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to stay emotionally healthy and spiritually alive in the chaos of the modern world

In the Prologue, John Mark Comer opens his analysis of the pace of modern life through sharing personal recollections. He describes his experience as a multi-site megachurch pastor in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area, in which he was preaching at multiple services and attending meetings throughout the week. The relentless pace of this schedule, even though it matched the conventional picture of career success in American life, left him feeling empty and exhausted. He began to reconsider the path of his life: “I don’t actually want to be the CEO/executive director of a nonprofit/HR expert/strategy guru/leader of leaders, etc. Is this the way of Jesus?” (3).

After several months of reflection, Comer decided to resign his position and to take a much smaller role as a single-church pastor in downtown Portland. He describes the effect this change has on his soul: “A life of speed isn’t easy to walk away from. But in time, I detox. Feel my soul open up […] Change is slow, gradual, and intermittent” (8). Eventually, he is able to come to a place where he can more readily feel the presence of God in his life.

Convinced that his experience of exhaustion at the hectic pace of life is not atypical, Comer then moves from his own recollections to a brief reflection on life in 21st-century America.