A Day of Rest

Even though my blog is officially 5 days old, I feel weird missing a day between postings. You know that feeling you get when you forget to brush your teeth (I never do that) or you forgot your earrings or your lunch for the day? Okay, seriously, I might forget to brush my teeth one day every six months but it happens, especially on a Saturday when I get started with coffee and then that feeds into lunch and then before I know it its dinner time... Maybe no one out there is relating to me or would admit it but sometimes we forget. Sorry Mom! It's not because you didn't teach me to brush twice a day...it wasn't something you did so don't blame yourself!

Moving on...I love the Lord's Day! It is my favorite day of the week! I love being at church with my church family. It hits me quite often how these are the people I will be spending eternity with. There are family members that I share a blood bond with that sadly I will not spend eternity with if God does not intervene. But my brothers and sisters in Christ will be my family for all of eternity. So often we come and go on Sundays with a few passing niceties and then we go on with our week until the next Sunday without so much as a phone call or an email. It just shouldn't be! It makes me realize how important it is to pour into one another now, to help bear burdens, to petition the throne of grace and invest time with our heavenly family while we are here on earth so that we will have some great memories when "we all get to heaven".

We have missed quite a few Sundays because of the frozen tundra we have been experiencing in Central Virginia and I have missed being in the Lord's house. Sometimes I wonder if we weren't ever able to "miss" church if we would ever "miss" church. Would we be so grateful for the privilege of the fellowship and worship that we are able to have with Him in His house? I thought about the freedoms of this country we live in and how there are people in other countries that long to be in the house of God but for one reason or another cannot. I thought about the people who are shut-ins and elderly that maybe once experienced the fellowship of being among God's people every week but now they can't be. Today, the hymns seemed sweeter, the words more poignant, the Spirit more precious. I didn't want it to end. Praise Jesus Christ that one day, because of His sacrifice, it won't have to!

We are preaching through the book of Luke and today we looked at the first 6 verses of chapter 6 dealing with Jesus being Lord of the Sabbath. It struck me that even though we had church at 2pm and things have been off because of the snow that Jesus is still Lord of the Sabbath even when the Sabbath doesn't look like it's supposed to. We get hung up on times and plans but God changes those according to His plans and His time. All the control that we have is a complete illusion. He can open the treasuries of snow anytime He chooses and scatter our plans. Indeed, even the heart of the king and the decision of the lot is in His hand. So, it brings to light the fact that we serve the Lord of All! And that can be comforting or it can be a source of anxiety. The thing is, what we think doesn't change the truth - He is Lord of All. So, on this day of rest that the Lord of All created for our rest, how appropriate that we should "rest" in the knowledge that we can leave it all at His feet, today and every day. "My times are in Your hand!" Psalm 31:5