long awaiting

cyndi and i have not been on a legitimate vacation since our honeymoon in May of 2002, so this next week is something we have been long awaiting.

we're taking the family down to Daytona Beach in Florida and we're going to just sit on the beach for a week. i won't be answering my phone or email. i may twitter, but i won't be communicating with anyone else but my family.

some of you know this isn't going to be easy completely. i like being connected. i like talking to people and texting and twittering and all that. but my family needs my undivided attention more. i'm reading a book called "The Rest of God" by Mark Buchanan about sabbath. not many people celebrate sabbath.

i used the word celebrate intentionally. often sabbath is something 'observed' and sometimes begrudgingly. we celebrate at church and birthdays and weddings, but in rest, we often feel like we are just waiting for the rest to be over. that isn't rest. that isn't sabbath.

i am going to attempt sabbath in this next week. rest from work, and hopefully experience the rest of my family.

sabbath was made for man, not the other way around. it isn't supposed to be a legalistic weight of waiting. it is supposed to be a coronation of the deepness of God meeting with the shallowness of our own hearts. without it, we waste away. with it we learn that we truly are wasting nothing in resting.

a friend of mine once told me that God can do more with six days than we can do with seven.

i'm hoping to continue a consistent celebration of sabbath even after our long awaited vacation has ended. i encourage you to seek out sabbath and if you feel unable, ask God to show you his rest and how you can get to a place of consistent sabbath and finding the rest of God.