Several years ago some friends and I went on a whitewater rafting trip in West Virginia. As we turned off the main highway, I looked forward to a peaceful evening of camping out in the wilderness.

An employee of the campground directed us to the site where we would pitch our tents. Twisting and turning on a dirt road, we worked our way farther away from civilization. Finally, we arrived at our camp site and began to set up our tents.

It didn’t take long to realize that we could hear the traffic from the highway, and it wasn’t very far away! Our winding path had taken us right next to the main road! Instead of an evening of peace and quiet, we endured the sounds of 18-wheelers gearing down and struggling to make it up the hill. It was late in the night before I could finally drift off to sleep.

Jesus often got away from everything in order to spend time with God. Mark 1:35 says, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”

We know that we should follow the example of Jesus and spend some quiet time alone with God. However, sometimes we get turned around, like on my camping trip, and end up right back in the noisy traffic of life.

What is it that sometimes interrupts your quiet time with God? What can you do to try to prevent these interruptions?