Our theme for this month: “Sabbath Rest”

Our Bible verse for today: “Many women have done noble deeds, but you surpass them all!” Proverbs 31:28

Our thought for today: “Happy Anniversary Linda!”

Today Linda and I celebrate our forty-first anniversary. We’re doing so by leaving for a one week vacation in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Our honeymoon, forty-one years ago today, consisted of a single night in a cheap hotel in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. We were pretty broke back then and we couldn’t afford anything more than that. But we resolved we would make-up for it when we celebrated our anniversary in the years ahead. For forty-one years since then we have always done something special every year, like going to Myrtle Beach. On every fifth anniversary we have done something really special like trips to Las Vegas, or cruises to the Mexican Rivera, to the Western Caribbean, and to Alaska. We have also gone to Eastern Europe, and once we even went to Hong Kong. Over the years Myrtle Beach has become a favorite anniversary destination of ours.

But the choice of Myrtle Beach is significant for another reason as well – a reason that pertains to our theme this month of Sabbath Rest and which also reveals a lot about the kind of wife Linda has been to me.

Linda is smart and very talented. She has a year of college and she has many job skills. She has always excelled at whatever job she has had including receptionist, bookkeeper, and manager of an apartment complex. But when we got married she decided that her primary job was going to be to take care of me and our children so that I could be free to pursue my career in the military. Then, when I retired from the Navy and became a Pastor, Linda’s commitment grew even stronger. She resolved that she was going to take good care of me so that I would be free to take good care of the people of the church.

In her role as a Pastor’s wife Linda has always been fiercely protective of me – kind of like a mama bear (fair warning – if you pick a fight with me you just picked a fight with my wife too). She also watches my health, makes sure I get enough sleep, and she guards my time off.

And that leads us to our subject of Sabbath Rest. Going to Myrtle Beach is largely Linda’s idea. She’s the one who pushes for it because she knows it’s a place where I really do rest and relax.  We always rent a condo in the same place at North Myrtle Beach. (We like North Myrtle Beach because it’s far removed from the hustle and bustle of South Myrtle Beach, which is more for the younger crowd.) The place we go is calm and quiet. The condo we rent has a screened-in back porch that overlooks a serene setting. I spend hours out there each day (especially in the early morning), drinking coffee, praying, reflecting, and reading. It’s always a restful and renewing time for me.

I will also swim every day, kayak in the ocean, go for long rides on my mountain bike, and play some golf. Then together Linda and I will go to some shows, we will go out to dinner, we will shop, and we will sightsee. But mostly, I will rest and relax. Linda knows that and that’s why she pushes for us to go here.

Linda always seems to know what I need most, and over the years she has become very good at talking me into doing the things I really ought to be doing anyway. I’ve been blessed to have someone in my life who loves me, who knows my needs, and who goes out of her way to care for me. I hope you have someone like that too.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Sabbath Rest”

Our Bible verse for today: “My soul finds rest in God alone …” Psalm 62:1 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Enjoy the peace of God.”

I had an interesting and enjoyable experience yesterday morning. It was an experience I’ve had many times before, but not so much recently. I’m on vacation right now and I began it with a quick trip to California to spend a few days with my daughter. Tracy is an adult but she has some fairly serious mental and physical handicaps and therefore she is rather high-maintenance (in that she requires a lot of constant care and attention). So although I always enjoy my time with her, after several days of providing 24/7 care as we did some vacation activities together, I found myself a bit worn out. Beyond that, my flight home was delayed and I didn’t get home until 3:30 AM.

After about four hours of sleep I got up, grabbed a cup of coffee, and sat out back on the porch. There was a gentle breeze blowing, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, I had nothing to do and nowhere to go. After three days of airports, rental cars, and caring for Tracy, now it was just me and God along with the cool breeze, the singing birds, and the coffee. There was a deep sense of relaxation and peace. I just sat there soaking-in the stillness and enjoying a great sense of God’s presence.  It was deep and rich and very soothing.

Although I begin every day in quiet time with the Lord, almost always it’s with the awareness that I have a full day of responsibilities and activities waiting for me right on the other side of that quiet time. Therefore there’s often a subtle sense of urgency underlying it all and my time with the Lord isn’t entirely the thing of peace and spiritual nurture it should be.

However when we allow ourselves times of true Sabbath-rest, when our schedule is free and we can therefore just sit with the Lord as long as we please, it creates a bubble in time when we can just relax and enjoy God. There are no pressing concerns, there are no distractions, it’s simply you and God, the soft breeze, the singing birds, the shining sun, and coffee.

Psalm 62:1 was very real for me that morning. My soul found peace and rest in God. I hope that’s sometimes true for you too. I encourage you to be intentional about carving out those relaxed, unhurried, peaceful times with God.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Sabbath Rest”

Our Bible verse for today: “My soul finds rest in God alone …” Psalm 62:1 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Enjoy the peace of God.”

I had an interesting and enjoyable experience yesterday morning. It was an experience I’ve had many times before, but not so much recently. I’m on vacation right now and I began it with a quick trip to California to spend a few days with my daughter. Tracy is an adult but she has some fairly serious mental and physical handicaps and therefore she is rather high-maintenance (in that she requires a lot of constant care and attention). So although I always enjoy my time with her, after several days of providing 24/7 care as we did some vacation activities together, I found myself a bit worn out. Beyond that, my flight home was delayed and I didn’t get home until 3:30 AM.

After about four hours of sleep I got up, grabbed a cup of coffee, and sat out back on the porch. There was a gentle breeze blowing, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, I had nothing to do and nowhere to go. After three days of airports, rental cars, and caring for Tracy, now it was just me and God along with the cool breeze, the singing birds, and the coffee. There was a deep sense of relaxation and peace. I just sat there soaking-in the stillness and enjoying a great sense of God’s presence.  It was deep and rich and very soothing.

Although I begin every day in quiet time with the Lord, almost always it’s with the awareness that I have a full day of responsibilities and activities waiting for me right on the other side of that quiet time. Therefore there’s often a subtle sense of urgency underlying it all and my time with the Lord isn’t entirely the thing of peace and spiritual nurture it should be.

However when we allow ourselves times of true Sabbath-rest, when our schedule is free and we can therefore just sit with the Lord as long as we please, it creates a bubble in time when we can just relax and enjoy God. There are no pressing concerns, there are no distractions, it’s simply you and God, the soft breeze, the singing birds, the shining sun, and coffee.

Psalm 62:1 was very real for me that morning. My soul found peace and rest in God. I hope that’s sometimes true for you too. I encourage you to be intentional about carving out those relaxed, unhurried, peaceful times with God.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Sabbath Rest”

Our Bible verse for today: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.” Psalm 23:1-3 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Stop working so hard at playing.”

Gordan Dahl was a professor of economics at the University of San Diego. He once published an article in the magazine “The Christian Century” which reported his findings about the work and vacation habits of the average American worker. He wrote:

“In truth, for millions of Americans … leisure has come to mean little more than an ever more furious orgy of consumption. Whatever energies are left after working, are spent in pursuing pleasure with the help of an endless array of goods and service. This is “virtuous materialism” par excellence. It offers men the choice of either working themselves to death or consuming themselves to death – or both.”

What Dahl was referring to is the habit many of us have developed of being as busy in our leisure as we are in our work. Rather than really resting and renewing, we instead fill our leisure time with endless activities that leave us exhausted. We essentially work at our play. I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard someone complain that they needed a rest after their vacation.

The great Christian writer A.W. Tozer once observed that we modern Christians have lost the ability to simply “be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). We’re entirely too busy to be still.

As we’ve learned, there’s a lot to be said for playing and having fun and engaging in activities we enjoy. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s even good. But true Sabbath-rest also needs to include quiet times of inactivity. It needs to include what the Psalmist was writing about in Psalm 23:1-3, “He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.”

In order for Sabbath-rest to renew and restore – in order for it to be spiritually nurturing, it needs to include times of quiet inactivity. There needs to be time for reflection and just being still before the Lord.

I encourage you to stop working so hard at your play. Take some time to really rest.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Sabbath Rest”

Our Bible verse for today: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Rest and leisure are good for you.”

The Pharisees were confused about the true purpose of Sabbath-keeping. They thought God had commanded them to observe Sabbath for His sake, but in truth God established it for our sake. All of God’s commands are for our own good, and that includes the observance of Sabbath-worship and Sabbath-rest. God didn’t institute the practice of Sabbath-keeping because He needs it, but because we do.

A few weeks ago, as I was preparing to begin writing this series about “Sabbath-rest”, I was browsing through my library looking for source material and I came across a little book I read years ago called “Leisure: The Basis of Culture” by the German philosopher Josef Pieper.

Although Pieper himself was a Christian, and although his book is laced with Biblical themes and principles, it’s not exclusively a Christian book. Instead it’s a study about leisure and culture and the positive impact a good philosophy of leisure has on any society. In his research Pieper went all the way back to ancient times – even as far back as the times of Plato and Aristotle, comparing a society’s practice of leisure to the overall health of that society. What he discovered was that those societies that maintained a healthy balance between work and rest consistently fared better than those that overvalued the sphere of work.

In our culture today we tend to overvalue the world of work and we undervalue the need for real rest. As was noted in a previous devotional in this series, even when we do finally stop working and take time to “rest”, we don’t really rest. Instead we end of working at our play and we come back from our vacation exhausted and in need of rest.

The lesson Jesus was teaching in Mark 2:27 is that God instituted the practices of Sabbath-worship and Sabbath-rest for our benefit. Sabbath is a gift to us from God. In other words, you have God’s permission to rest. No, that’s really not quite right either. God has actually commanded you to rest – and He did so because rest and leisure are good for you.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Sabbath Rest”

Our Bible verse for today: “Go and eat what is rich, drink what is sweet, and send portions to those who have nothing prepared, since today is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, because the joy of the Lord is your strength.” “Nehemiah 8:10 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Take time to celebrate.”

Celebration is a spiritual discipline. It’s true. In Richard’s Foster’s classic work “The Celebration of Discipline” Foster lists “celebration” as one of the basic disciplines of the Christian faith. Along with things like prayer, Bible study, fellowship, worship, acts of service, etc, frequent times of celebration are an important part of practicing the Christian faith. Celebration is good for you and it should be part of your Sabbath-rest.

God’s people have a long history of engaging in fun times of celebration. For the Old Testament Jews their entire calendar revolved around a series of pre-planned annual festivals and celebrations. King David danced in the streets of Jerusalem as he led a parade. Jesus attended a wedding in the village of Cana and He even turned water into wine to assist with the celebration. The Christians in the early church in the book of Acts spent a lot of time in each others homes sharing meals and enjoying each others company.

As was noted in a previous devotional message in this series, the Bible refers to feasting, celebrating, and dancing more than 150 times.  That’s because celebration is an important part of life as a child of God. After all, who has more to celebrate than those who are blessed by God and who have the promise of eternity in heaven?

As Richard Foster teaches in his book, celebration is actually a discipline that we are to practice for the sake of our spiritual growth. That being the case, we have to be intentional about it. We need to plan for it and fully embrace it. I hesitate to use the phrase “party hearty”, simply because it carries with it a negative connotation from secular culture. But the phrase does seem to capture the essence of David dancing with reckless abandon in the streets of Jerusalem, or of Jesus letting loose a belly laugh as He enjoyed the festivities of the wedding celebration.

Sabbath-rest can and should include times of wholesome celebrations with family and friends. It should be fun and joyous. I encourage you to celebrate. Go ahead and party hearty!

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Sabbath Rest”

Our Bible verse for today: “The streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in them.” Zechariah 8:5 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “It’s okay to play”

One of the books I’m currently reading is called “The Circle” by Ted Dekker. It’s actually a series of fiction novels similar to “The Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis. However it’s also similar to the “This Present Darkness” series by Frank Peritti because the story unfolds in two dimensions simultaneously – one dimension is the world as we know it and the other world is similar to that of Lewis’s Narnia – and events in each world are directly tied to and influence events in the other world.

In Dekker’s Narnia-type world God is known as “Elyon”, and one of the things Elyon loves to do is He loves to come out and play with His people (similar to how God walked in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve in the early chapters of Genesis). In the story, when Elyon calls His people to come out and play, all sorts of wonderful and amazing things happen. For instance, for the length of their playtime the people discover that they can fly like birds. Elyon also makes waterfalls flow upside down, He turns the grass purple, He makes the water taste like cherry cool-aid, and much more. So of course the people eagerly look forward to the times when Elyon calls them out to play.

Now, is the notion of God playing like that nothing more than a creative part of a silly fantasy story? I don’t think so. I think there’s some truth to it. I think God has a great sense of humor and I think He loves to play. It was God’s idea for a puppy to chase its tail. God was the one who created a baby’s smile and the cute little giggle that goes with it. Ice cream is a gift straight from heaven. God is playful and fun-loving and I also think He loves for us to play. The Bible refers to feasts and feasting, to dancing and celebrating more than 150 times.

In his book, “The Christian at Play” author Robert Johnston makes the case that “The person at play is expressing his or her God-given nature.” In other words, God created us with a playful nature like His own and He intends for us to express it as a means of enjoyment and leisure.

Sometimes we adult Christians get too serious for our own good. We equate holiness with seriousness and we become a bunch of dull old fuddy-duddies. We need to lighten-up. It would do most of good to spend an hour sitting in a mud puddle splashing and playing with a three year old.

God created you with the ability to enjoy life and to have fun. It’s okay to play.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Sabbath Rest”

Our Bible verse for today: “For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. Therefore, a Sabbath rest remains for God’s people. For the person who has entered his rest has rested from his own works, just as God did from his. Let us then make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall into the same pattern of disobedience.” Hebrews 4:8-11 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “There’s more to Sabbath-rest than just physical rest.”

In Hebrews 4:8-11 the writer actually used the term “Sabbath rest”, which is serving as our theme for this month. Although the practice of Sabbath is either taught directly or referred to more than 170 times in the Bible, and although resting as part of Sabbath is clearly taught, this is the only place in the Bible where the actual term “Sabbath rest” is used.

In this passage the writer reminds his readers of how it was that Joshua had led the nation of Israel into the Promised Land as they conquered their enemies and eventually had rest from their travels and from their battles. But it wasn’t enough. There was another deeper kind of rest which they needed. Being settled in permanent homes was nice; having time off from their labors was needed; and it was certainly a relief to finally be free from the constant conflict with their enemies; but God had something more in mind for their time of resting. There needed to be a spiritual dimension to it. In addition to being a time for physical rest, Sabbath-rest is a time of spiritual nurture and renewal.

There’s a deep and direct connection inside of you between the physical and the spiritual. The physical and the spiritual impact each other. As we learned from our friend, the Old Testament prophet Elijah, in a previous devotional message, if you are physically exhausted and emotionally drained you will also be spiritually weak. Likewise, if you are spiritually dry that will have a direct impact on every other part of your life. Therefore you need to take care of yourself physically but also mentally, emotionally, and especially spiritually as well. “Sabbath rest”, as opposed to just “rest”, is rest with a spiritual objective.

In the days to come we will consider some ways that we can achieve both physical rest and spiritual nurture at the same time. I’m not talking about weeks of seclusion in a monastery chanting ancient hymns with cloistered monks either. You may be surprised to learn how much fun Sabbath-rest can be. There are many ways to relax, have fun, and get spiritually recharged all at the same time. We’ll talk more about that tomorrow.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Sabbath Rest”

Our Bible verse for today: “I did not go up to Jerusalem to those who had become apostles before me; instead I went to Arabia and came back to Damascus. Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to get to know Cephas and I stayed with him fifteen days.” Galatians 1:17-18 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Consider taking a Sabbatical”

Saul the Pharisee became Paul the Apostle – so he had a significant mid-life change of careers. Between those two major seasons in his life he took an extended Sabbatical. After he came to faith in Christ, but before he started the new work that he would do for the rest of his life, he took a three year sabbatical in Arabia.

“Sabbatical” is a term many people are unfamiliar with, but the practice of sabbatical is more common than you might realize. A sabbatical is simply an extended period of time-off from normal activities to rest, reflect, decompress, and renew. Sometimes it is also a time to prepare for the next season of life. That’s what Paul was doing in Arabia.

Sabbaticals are most commonly used as a long break in professions that are intellectually demanding. Most school teachers get a two month sabbatical every summer as they recover from the school year that has just ended and prepare for the one that is coming up. College professors normally get an entire sabbatical year every seventh year. It’s a time when they don’t have to teach classes or counsel students. Instead they spend the year traveling, doing research, and writing. Pastors are often given short sabbaticals at milestone markers in their tenure at a church, such as at the 10, 15, 20 year point.

However sabbaticals are also commonly taken during periods of major transitions in life. It’s becoming more and more common these days for young people to take a sabbatical year between high school and college – just to take a break from the grind of endless studies. I have a son who went to Romania for a year after high school, living with a Romanian Pastor’s family and serving as an intern in the church. Recently I met a young man who is taking a year to serve as an Americore volunteer building homes for poor people in Appalachia before he resumes his college work next year.

Recently I read a great book by author Jeff Haanen called “An Uncommon Guide to Retirement”. Haanen encourages Christians to take a sabbatical year after retiring from their career to rest, travel, do your home improvement projects, and just decompress from a lifetime of work. But once the sabbatical is over, it’s time to apply yourself in some meaningful and productive way so that you don’t waste that season of your life. Go to work for a charitable non-profit agency; start a small business doing something you love; get involved in lots of volunteer work; do something to help others and make the world a better place. Take your sabbatical, but then go back to making a meaningful difference in the world.

Are you in a profession that is exceedingly draining physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually? You might need a sabbatical. Have you reached some significant milestone in your life or career? If so, then perhaps it’s time to enjoy a short sabbatical. Are you transitioning from one season of life to another? Feel free to take a sabbatical in-between the seasons.

Time off is not wrong. You don’t have to constantly go, go, go. Maybe it’s time for an extended break.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

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