Midnight, Wednesday September 2, 2009, and there is a Stephen King movie on. But it’s not the bewitching hour. Far from it as a matter of fact, although at one time I might have believed that it was.
I was getting ready to go to sleep a couple of nights ago, reading the Bible. I was in the book of Mark, and the passage I was in was Mark 2: 23-28. This is where Jesus and his disciples were passing through a grain field, some of them picking heads of grain, angering the Pharisees. They accused Jesus and his disciples of acting unlawfully on the Sabbath. Jesus replied to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 23:27).
This led me to Genesis, and a specific verse. Genesis 2: 2, “By the seventh day God completed his work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work he had done.”
A day of rest is nearly an unheard of concept in these so called modern times. Home phones, cell phones, work phones, Blackberry’s, I Phones, who knows how many cable news channels 24 hours a day, the internet, radios, Ipods, pod casts that can be downloaded, email, Twitter, Face book, blogs. Need I go on? And I’m part of it, almost impossible to disconnect. Heck, it’s nearly 12:30 am now and here I am writing this. That’s after getting up a 4:00am yesterday, putting in a full day of work, then a four-hour accounting class in the evening.
An acquaintance of mine who is a minister was in the restaurant today, and on his way out we briefly caught up on his summer. As our conversation ended, for some reason he bought up the concept of the day of Sabbath. His view is that God worked for six days, and rested on the seventh, enjoying the fruits of his labor.
My schedule doesn’t allow me to be off on weekends. My weekend is Wednesday and Thursday. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t have a Sabbath day. I can barely imagine, a day to rest, a day to be quiet, and a day to thank God for the blessings in my life.
I can read, write, play with Hobie, take a nap, visit a friend, play the guitar, write a song, spend time with my wife, and cook a wonderful meal for us. Any of the above, one of the above, maybe none of the above, I don’t know yet. But I’m going to enjoy a Sabbath day weekly. Can you? The real question is, can you, or I, afford not to? Not this kid.
I was getting ready to go to sleep a couple of nights ago, reading the Bible. I was in the book of Mark, and the passage I was in was Mark 2: 23-28. This is where Jesus and his disciples were passing through a grain field, some of them picking heads of grain, angering the Pharisees. They accused Jesus and his disciples of acting unlawfully on the Sabbath. Jesus replied to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 23:27).
This led me to Genesis, and a specific verse. Genesis 2: 2, “By the seventh day God completed his work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work he had done.”
A day of rest is nearly an unheard of concept in these so called modern times. Home phones, cell phones, work phones, Blackberry’s, I Phones, who knows how many cable news channels 24 hours a day, the internet, radios, Ipods, pod casts that can be downloaded, email, Twitter, Face book, blogs. Need I go on? And I’m part of it, almost impossible to disconnect. Heck, it’s nearly 12:30 am now and here I am writing this. That’s after getting up a 4:00am yesterday, putting in a full day of work, then a four-hour accounting class in the evening.
An acquaintance of mine who is a minister was in the restaurant today, and on his way out we briefly caught up on his summer. As our conversation ended, for some reason he bought up the concept of the day of Sabbath. His view is that God worked for six days, and rested on the seventh, enjoying the fruits of his labor.
My schedule doesn’t allow me to be off on weekends. My weekend is Wednesday and Thursday. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t have a Sabbath day. I can barely imagine, a day to rest, a day to be quiet, and a day to thank God for the blessings in my life.
I can read, write, play with Hobie, take a nap, visit a friend, play the guitar, write a song, spend time with my wife, and cook a wonderful meal for us. Any of the above, one of the above, maybe none of the above, I don’t know yet. But I’m going to enjoy a Sabbath day weekly. Can you? The real question is, can you, or I, afford not to? Not this kid.
Good word. Do you think sailing could be included in that list? Nah don't think so, too much work.
ReplyDeleteWeather is shaping up won't be long.