Sabbath

Before today's post, let me say this. Texas lost to Ohio State yesterday, snapping a 21-game win streak, despite Tommy and I yelling our lungs out for 4 solid hours. It was probably for the better. If the win streak had hit 25, I'm about 90% sure I would have started wearing a burnt orange cape in public every Saturday to exhibit my Longhorn pride...

Speaking of my love for characters who wear capes, let's have some fun with the Photo Booth on my MacBook...



Keith Atkinson spoke in church this morning about the Sabbath. Some points he made:

1) People in our day and age tend to be stressed out, which leads to myriad health problems and diminished effectiveness in our lives. When Keith listed the symptoms of stress, including diminished energy, lack of sleep, irritability and inability to focus, I found myself checking off each one in my head as something I've experienced in the last few months.

2) By taking a Sabbath, we honor God and end up doing more in six days than we would have in seven.

3) Keith recommended that, instead of a set quiet time of an hour in the mornings, it may be better to set aside 3 times during the day where we spend time with God and refocus for 10-15 minutes (He made the same recommendation in our discipleship group Wednesday morning).

As I sit here in my loft on a lazy Sunday afternoon with a Dallas Cowboy game in the background, I can best describe my "20" poetically as follows:

Hurtling forward at breakneck speed
On down the gravely road
A troika of fiery charging steeds
Pulling my burdensome load

The rickety coach I'm riding on
Creaks and shrieks with strain
I'm sure what's left of the shocks is gone
Each bump brings a bruising pain

I'm making great time but I don't know where
The world is too blurry a sight
The end of the world seems a long way off
But it's closer than I'd like

I careen left and right, and up and down
I can't stay where I sit
Fearing the gravel and grass below
And fearing the splintery seat I'm on...

I make the desperate leap...

The ground hits my shoulder with the force of the kick of a thoroughbred horse...

I tumble and roll, flying up in the air, then landing once again...

My elbows and knees sear with the burn of embedded chunks of gravel and dirt and grass...

My eyes open up. My head is clear. I look around and see the grasses of the plain and the mountains beyond in brilliant color and detail...

I see the path I've taken, and how far I've come. I don't know the path ahead, but I don't lack options...

The beauty of this place, fashioned by God like the rest of the earth, and universe, and time itself, compels my heart to shout and sing because I know He is here, as He always has been, yet now I am aware...

I'm bloodied...

I'm alive...

And I'm free...

So this is where I am - a wide open place where the uncertainty excites and frustrates me. I am stepping away from the Rat Race for a little while (at least mentally and spiritually), with the intention of finding out how to fill this blank slate that is my life with a story that transcends mere trifles. This will be the Sabbath of my life. I pray that the Master meets here with me, sending His Spirit to express to me the heart of my Heavenly Father, that I may be made holy in the presence of a holy God.

But for now, I'll settle for some rest...