Barb (my wife) and I just came back from two weeks in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. We had a wonderful experience soaking in the sun – it was 91-95 degrees most days with humidity that made it feel well over 100 (the key to that issue is lots of water, rest and gorgeous swimming pools). 🙂
We experienced West Palm Beach, Pompano Beach, the Intracoastal Waterway, snorkeling in Key Largo, golfing in Palm Aire and we had plenty of pool time. It was quite the experience, ranging from seeing multi-million dollar homes (and boats), to snorkeling with a 6 foot reef shark (really cool)! The break was wonderful and we enjoyed the rest and relaxation, it was fabulous!
While we were there, I made more time to read through J. Warner Wallace’s book: “Cold Case Christianity,” and study my “Growing in Christ” booklet (the one we are using for our core disciple-making pathway at Oak Grove), as well as spend time in prayer.
One of my pet peeves in the summer is not that people take a break from many normal routines in life for a vacation, but that it often becomes a time when people take a break from walking with God. Of course that is not true for everyone, but it seems that it is very easy to slip away from the normal routine of relationship with God.
I get it. It’s hard. We get lazy, relax, and try to ignore the normal pace of life. Then, of course, everyone has their own opinion about what is important: “Do we go to church, or not? Do I read my Bible, or take a break? Do I spend time praying, or not? Do I serve in my ministry or take a break?”
Sometimes I think we ask the wrong question. The problem is really more about how I value relationship. Parents “get a break” from their kids by sending them to camp; this does not seem to be a problem. However, some parents keep their kids so busy through the summer that I have often wondered if it is more about getting as much free time from them as possible, rather than what experiences are really valuable for them. Introverts can love isolation at times and often avoid people. Extroverts can easily use people to get their emotional batteries charged, but may not value true intimacy with people – it’s like a charge to be around people, but it can become more like exploitation, and not so much like genuine engagement.
My point is this: we need to learn to find and follow God everywhere. It is somewhat irrelevant if you are on vacation or working; taking lots of breaks or being a workaholic. The goal of life is not to segment or schedule God into parts of our week, but to always keep Christ the center of every week.
John 1:4 – “In Him was life and the life was the light of men.”
If this is true, then, in order to live a full life it means “setting the Lord constantly before me..” in every aspect of life.
Taking a vacation from the normal routines of life is fabulous and at times very necessary in this frantic and chaotic culture we live in. There is, however, no justification in taking vacation from our relationship with the Lord, our life-spring.
In His grace,
Pastor Brad
