"Six days you shall labor and so all your work. But the seventh is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work - you or your son or your daughter...remember that you were a slave in the Land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day." Deut 5:12
So today, after wise counsel from a friend, I rested - and had sabbath. After lunch, I decided to trust that even though the urge to go directly to the library and study for the week ahead was overwhelming (and perhaps normal routine) but as I am learning more about trust and also about God's faithfulness, I went to the beach instead. Quite the place to be as we are almost into the fall and so those days of summer and slumber are nearly over. Not that I was able to do any slumbering this summer - I have in years gone by and will perhaps again in the future. So I am trusting that God knows how tired I am, and therefore commanded to His people that they were to rest, not only them, but their families, servants and all those who resided amongst them to do so as well.
If only we were better at following this command but somehow we have allowed ourselves to sink into the state that if we are not busy all the time, the world will fall apart without us - which of course is not true, but we really do live like this - as westerners. How many of us who confess Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord can honestly say that we build Sabbath rest into our lives? Surely if God has commanded us to do so and He made us, He knows that we need it. Perhaps there would not be as many burned out people as there are in our workplaces if we all enjoyed Sabbath and encouraged each other to do likewise.
Tonight was also a gift. Foot washing with the sophomores...
"Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his won who were in the world, he loved them to the end...And during supper, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had some from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him....
After he has washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, 'Do you know what I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.'" John 13; 1-15
So that's what we did as a symbol of serving each other, the North Park community, the neighborhood and the area of Chicago and the world as God calls us. Pretty cool!
Good night friends.
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