from bone tired to — the man in the camel hair clothes

“5 Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. 6 He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. 7 My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. 8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Selah” Psalm 62: 5-8

It’s interesting how much the mind can push the body to do something. From marathon runners to soldiers to studying or driving all night, we can push ourselves above and beyond what is considered a healthy balance of what is good for the body as well as good for the soul. As a whole, many IT jobs or other professions also concur by expecting elongated work schedules during the week, overflowing into the weekend. For the past week, I have been living in this fast lane during a software release.

“Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Matthew 11:28

Perhaps one fault of our society (and in all of us for purporting it) is to think that free time, that rest of any kind is the first negotiable aspect of our lives. Surely one hour today, or one day this week is necessary to get projects done and on time? Or at least appear that we are trying to hit a deadline. Indeed, we really need to get those errands done, the laundry clean, the house picked up, the video game played, the chat in IM completed, the blog written, that website surfed, the food made, the movie attended. Every day we make choices on choosing valid and/or busy work and shortening ourselves the time to rest our minds and bodies.

Exhaustion hits people differently. For me, it starts in the small of my back, an ache that won’t stop. It spreads up and down my body until all movements become more and more of an effort. I can stave it off with snacking, listening to head-banger music and singing along, drinking rot-gut energy drinks and Diet Mountain Dew. But in the end, the mind and attitude wane close to despair and whether it is a few days or a few weeks, my body, and God finally ‘puts a foot down’ and I must rest. And that body-stopping, sleep (the sleep where you do not really move from your original position all night) is glorious. Isn’t one of THE luxuries in life sleeping until you wake up on your own? Is not that that best rest ever? Why is it so hard to practice sleep as a discipline to keep ourselves healthy and productive? Why is it considered so slothful to take care of ourselves? Did not God rest on the 7th day? Aren’t we to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy?

9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Hebrews 4: 9-13

After some sleep and abstinence from rot-gut sugar free Rock Stars and Red Bulls, my body was fairly rested Wednesday morning. But what really put my soul in a rested mood happened that evening. The FirstLight Youth Group moved from meeting in homes to meeting at a local elementary school. In one week, attendance went from an average of 14 per week to 29. In addition, over 9 adult leaders and supporters were there for them. This is way cool. Not the numbers, but the kids who were able to learn more about God and Jesus tonight.

Great fun and study happened tonight at the Youth Group location. There was laughter, excellent discussion around the opening of the Gospel of Mark, snacking, playing games and small group discussion. I lead a small group discussion with 8th graders, a great bunch of kids with wonderful, inquisitive minds and kind hearts. We talked about John and his crazy camel hair clothes and wondered aloud, “John was baptizing people in the river, so his camel hair clothes were wet. Does wet camel hair smells like a wet dog or worse?” Another point was, “Eating locusts and honey? I get the sugar thing, but bugs, gross.” We talked about temptation and how we could work on the things that tempted us during the week such as anger, treating siblings well, being kind, helping others, and working on recycling. We talked about what we say in the Lord’s Prayer about “The Kingdom of God” was here on earth and in heaven. We talked about how this affects how we treat the earth and how we grow ourselves. It was an awesome conversation.

For some, Wednesday’s activities might seem like another commitment on another day I really don’t have time for, but dude, it did my soul so much good to be there. I can only hope that the Youth that were there today got as much out of the experience as I did.

Yes, Sabbath is rest. But Sabbath is dwelling in a community of believers and in God. So tonight, at Youth group, I rested, and it was good.

Selah,
Deana