“When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord.”

Acts 11:23-24

Pressure. It is all around you—pressing in on you. You can’t escape it. Even when you don’t feel pressure, it’s there. A restless antagonist that never stops closing in on you.

Sometimes you feel the pressure. Sometimes its subtle assault lingers at a low hum that you can put out of your mind.

Even still, pressure is a fact of life.

Sitting at sea level, the atmospheric pressure pushes on your body at 14.7 pounds per square inch. You are being pushed in on every side.

Diving to the bottom of a swimming pool increases that pressure to 19.15 PSI. That’s why it hurts your ears unless you use the scuba diver’s method of equalizing the pressure in your ears and sinuses.

Pressure is inescapable. It is one of the costs of life. And, it’s far more than atmospheric, right? The pressures of this world, of your world, are where the PSI really compound.

Relationships that are fractured bring stress. Projects at work—even the good ones that run smooth—increases stress. Family dynamics. Transitions. Illness. Putting the kids to bed. Waking the kids up. Life is one big ball of stress.

And that’s true even before things fall apart or go off the rails.

What do you do to relieve stress? How do you release it? How do you plow through?

If I’m honest, my number one way to handle stress is to store it in my shoulders. I pack it away like a squirrel storing acorns for winter. You never know when you’ll need some extra pressure, pain, and anxiousness. Ha!

The constant atmospheric pressure is not something you notice most of the time. It impacts you when it changes—weather, altitude, water. But you don’t feel it normally because it pushes equally at every point.

When life turns into a pressure cooker, it often doesn’t act the same way. Life and its circumstances tend to turn up the heat one area at a time.

The truth is, God provides an amazing way to release some of that pressure. And I don’t mean the typical spiritual responses like prayer or scripture (that are true, but a little tougher to make tangible). Releasing pressure is as simple as finding your Barnabas.

Who do you call when you’re overwhelmed? Who answers your call when the pit of anxiety sets up camp in your stomach?

Simon Sinek, a best selling author and thought leader (at one time he had the third most watched TED talk), shares sociological research of the power of 8 minutes.

In his words, studies have shown that one of the best ways to feel better in the midst of pressure, stress, and unmanageable hardship is a phone call with a trusted friend. 8 minutes talking with a friend is the pressure release that makes things better.

Not because your friend has the answers. Not because your friend leads you through the solution. Not because they are a sounding board or affirming all of your destructive and intrusive thoughts. The point of the 8 minutes isn’t answers. It’s connection.

8 minutes on the phone or at a coffee shop is what stirs your heart to remember several things. You are loved, not because of your performance, but because of who you are. 8 minutes with a friend reminds you that, even as the world crumbles away, your friend won’t. As the saying goes, a friend walks in when others walk out.

You bear the image of God. It’s a truth from the earliest pages of our story. This truth brings many aspects. One of the core ones is that you, like the Homy Trinity, are a relational being. You need to be in relationship with those around you.

And, this fact is the greatest strength in the face of all the pressures you face. Just as you should never scuba dive alone, neither should you go through the pressure cooker of this life alone.

Find a Barnabas. Be a Barnabas. It only takes 8 minutes.

Who are you calling this week to help relieve your pressure?