Getaway Like Jesus

Getaway Like Jesus — Merged Gospels Edition

Pace like Jesus. Pray like Jesus.

What can the rhythms, getaways, and prayers of Jesus teach us about paying attention to our Heavenly Father—and helping our friends do the same?

Getaway Like Jesus began as an early exploration of what we now describe as Jesus and Kavanah: the intentional, attentive way Jesus lived in relationship with His Father while sharing life with His friends. Rather than beginning with a modern formula for prayer or retreat, Dave and Rennie Garda invite you to open Jesus’ “day planner” and learn from the way He actually lived.

This updated Merged Gospels Edition makes that exploration even easier. Jesus’ getaways are keyed to sections of The Merged Gospels, allowing you to follow the events of His life in chronological context and notice the relationship between His daily rhythms, His ministry, His companions, and those moments when He stepped out of the expected flow of life.

Begin with the daily prayer rhythms of Jesus

The first journey explores how a first-century Jewish rabbi like Jesus would have paid attention to God throughout an ordinary day. His prayer life was God-centered, expressed in community, spread throughout the day, and lived with kavanah—intentional awareness of God’s presence.

Explore practices including praying Scripture, the Shema, the Amidah, blessings offered throughout the day, and the constant prayerful awareness that accompanied Jesus beyond scheduled times of prayer.

Jesus didn’t simply have a prayer time. He lived a prayerful life.

Walk through the Getaways of Jesus

The Gospels repeatedly show Jesus interrupting the expected rhythm of life. Sometimes He withdrew alone. Sometimes He brought His companions. Sometimes He sent them away. Sometimes an attempted getaway was interrupted and Jesus simply tried again.

Using the Merged Gospels as a chronological “day planner,” you’ll study the book’s collection of Jesus’ getaways and wrestle personally with four recurring purposes:

PRAY — extended connection with His Heavenly Father
REST — stepping away from activity for needed renewal
EQUIP — creating focused space to invest in His friends
ALIGN — stopping to realign with His Father’s heart, purpose, and will

You’ll investigate each Gospel event for yourself: What was happening before the getaway? Who went? Who initiated it? Where did they go? What changed? Was Jesus praying, resting, equipping His companions, realigning—or doing several at once?

The goal isn’t simply to identify Jesus’ patterns. It’s to let His life reshape yours.

Build your own Getaway Like Jesus rhythm

The study eventually turns the question toward us: Which getaway do you need most right now?

You’ll develop a personal Getaway Growth Plan and learn to combine planned rhythms with the willingness to “rip a page out of your day planner” when your heart, relationships, or assignment require something different.

Getting away like Jesus involves both a plan and a willingness to let God redirect the plan.

Learn what Jesus taught about prayer

The final portion becomes a practical Prayer Living Guide.

First, an 11-day journey invites you to sit at the feet of Rabbi Jesus and study what He taught His companions about prayer. Instead of extracting isolated sayings, you’ll examine the passage, audience, and context and ask what Jesus was actually teaching His friends.

Then another series of daily reflections turns from what Jesus taught to how Jesus prayed. You’ll linger over His recorded prayers and ask: What did Jesus pray for? Where and when did He pray? Who was involved? What do His prayers reveal about His relationship with His Father?

Along the way you’ll practice the Shema, explore the Amidah and its eighteen blessings, and consider the Jewish prayer world that formed the everyday setting of Jesus and His disciples.

Getaway Like Jesus is more than a book about retreats. It’s an invitation to become an apprentice of Jesus’ pace and prayer—to pay attent