Choosing to Rest
Last night Pastor Sam (or the most wonderful man in the world as I like to call him) finished the Wednesday night series of Ordering Your Private World. (If you weren’t able to take the class PLEASE read the book. It’s by Gordon MacDonald.) The last chapter was on “Choosing Rest” a topic we don’t address too often these hectic days.
He reminded us of God’s plan for us to stop our routines and labor and simply rest, meditating on the past; God’s purpose, the present; God’s standard, and the future; Christ centered. This reflection helps rejuvenate us to continue in His work.
Last week, we took it to heart, literally. Several months ago, we scheduled this past week to take a break, a vacation, just the two of us, without kids (woo hoo) and just do … nothing…. in Florida of course. I mean if you’re going to do nothing what better place to not do it in? Like I said, this trip was scheduled a long time ago and the point is, the enemy seemed to constantly come against us going on our trip. The airline cancelled our whole first day there, scheduling issues came up and then, there was the whole oil spill thingy. Now I know I’m being a little selfish about the oil spill (we went to the gulf coast), I know it didn’t just happen to keep us from going on vacation but the devil knows timing sometimes better than we do. The more we battled with whether to even go or not the more we knew we needed to go.
Our time there was so incredibly restful and peaceful and wonderful even though it was cut short (airline issues). Our entire plan for the week was eat when you’re hungry, sleep when you’re tired….go to the beach…. go to Steinmart. And that’s exactly what we did. Pastor slept the entire first day under the umbrella (he actually drooled Cheetos all over his chest … I have pictures) and as the warm coastal sun swept over us, we felt the cares, the burdens, the worries and the heaviness that comes with both pastoring and parenting melt off of us like Banana Boat sunscreen…of which we used alot.
Not having the kids there, as much as I love those two, made the trip more of a Sabbath. Sam told us last night that amusement and Sabbath are not to be connected. Sabbath requires rest and meditation. So that’s exactly what we did. We watched the parasailers go by and I’d say “you wanna do that?” he’d say “nope.” The dolphin sight seeing tour boat went by, “you wanna do that?” he’d say “nope.” We rested, we reflected and we refreshed.
On our last day, God honored our rest by giving us a special glimpse of His creation (no not oil), we saw dolphins, a school of about fifty mana ray and two manatees swim by directly in front of us. Of course, I didn’t go back in the water after that but it was cool all the same.
When we left we vowed that we would not wait four years to do this again. We have to take a Sabbath, it’s one of the commandments, remember? It doesn’t mean we have to go to Florida. We can just sit back, relax and meditate on all He has blessed us with. The lesson learned was a gentle reminder that our Sabbath doesn’t just happen we have to make it happen. Schedule it in like an appointment or a business meeting.
Our thanks to all those that made this trip so wonderful (with the exception of American Airlines) you know who you are! Please remember to pray for all the folks in the gulf coast. Their livelihood depends on travel and tourism; they need that oil to go away!
Cya
B
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