Vacation

 My wife and I are vacation right now. Vacations are nice. They give us the opportunity to relax and enjoy the things that we like to do. They can also tell us a lot about a person or family by observing their actions.

What do you like to do on vacation?

Some people like to travel, some like to stay at home. Some might like to party down while others catch up on sleep. We're all different and we all "vacation" differently.

There were no vacations back in the days of Jesus. The only break they had from all of their work was the sabbath day - one day each week. And on that day they could do no work. None.

Today things are different. I remember a time when stores were closed on Sunday. You'd better have gotten your groceries on Saturday because you weren't getting them on Sunday. Not any more. Those days are gone.

That is just one of the many "signs of the times" that things have changed. Our priorities have changed.

I am reading in the Book of 1st Samuel right now. Samuel was "given to God" at a very young age and he lived his entire life serving the Lord. No vacations whatsoever.

"After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. 25 When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, 26 and she said to him, “Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. 27 I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. 28 So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there." - 1 Samuel 24-28

What do our vacations look like in God's eyes, I wonder? Do we serve only ourselves, or do we serve the Lord? Do we serve others with our time off? I have a friend who is a dentist. He takes takes vacations to foreign countries, but he doesn't go there for his own pleasure.

My friend goes there to serve God by doing dental work for those who cannot afford it. And many need it. He also shares the gospel with them as he works. Most need that too.

Are examples of Christ on our vacations? Or do we serve only ourselves?

Vacation

Everybody's probably seen National Lampoon's Vacation, right? If you haven't, you should. It's a classic. It's a movie about a stereotypical family on a stereotypical vacation doing stereotypical things. Probably a little far from reality but still, it hits home about all the things that can go wrong on a vacation.

My wife and I just returned from a one-week vacation to Asheville, NC. What a great trip! But there were a few things that went wrong. For example, you should have seen the look on my wife's face when she realized she had left her favorite pajamas back at the last hotel. I'm sure it matched the look on MY face when I realized the same thing about my phone charger.

Things always happen on vacations that we'd just as soon forget but as long as we can look back on them and laugh we're pretty much okay.

Another thing I have noticed about vacations is that we always look forward to taking them and we always enjoy coming back home to our comfortable beds and surroundings. I feel recharged today after my vacation . . . after returning home to MY comfy bed.

Another thing about vacations is we sometimes discover, upon our return, that we really need a different job. We never realized how much our current job is sucking the life out of us spiritually. That being said, vacations can suck the spiritual lives out of us as well. Always on the go, trying to get to somewhere else. And isn't that the problem?

Each of us has been designed for a purpose . . . a certain calling in life. Many of us miss that calling and end up doing something else to fill our time and our bank accounts. But is it what GOD wants us to be doing?

I am at the end of my career. Retirement is around the corner for me. Soon I WILL be doing something else. I look forward to that day. But I also must be cautious so my days do not become filled with things and activities that are not God-honoring. THAT, I think, is what we have been called to do - make God-honoring decisions, make God-honoring actions, in whatever we do, wherever we are. That is how we can please God and isn't that why we are here?

Each of us must answer the question, "How can I best serve God ?" no matter what we find ourselves doing. How will I answer? How will you?

"12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." = Colossians 3:12-17

Holiday Road - Lindsey Buckingham

Up Nort Der Hey

Door County is one of Wisconsin's favorite vacation getaways. It is also one of favorite vacation destinations for the entire state of Illinois! Or so it seems. We all have our special places we like to go to get away from it all.

Where do you like to go? The beach? Do you just stay at home to get away from it all? Is your "get away" location a bathtub and a cup of coffee?

Have you ever noticed how most people like to go "up north." My wife and I live in Waupaca, Wisconsin. Waupaca is a vacation destination for many from the Milwaukee area or from Chicago. For them, WE are "up north." So where do WE in the Waupaca area go for vacation? WE too go up north - Eagle River, Tomahawk, Canada.

All this raises a question. Where do Eskimos go for there vacation? They are as "up north" as they can go! The only place they can go is "down south." That makes be think there is SOMEPLACE in between where you don't need to travel for vacation at all. There is someplace where people can live that is ALREADY the perfect destination spot. And guess what . . . Shhhh! . . . I have found it. :O

The place I go to "get away from it all" is very close to where I live. I don't need to get packed. I don't need to fill the gas tank or have a change of clothes to weigh me down. My secret vacation destination, the place where I go to relax and calm down from all the activity, noise and busyness, fits right in the palm of my hands.

No! It's not a phone or a laptop. It's my Bible.

Whenever I feel like I need to take a break, whenever I need to just get away, I open up my Bible and I turn to the Book of Romans . . . chapter eight. MY favorite vacation destination. Won't you please join me?

Romans 8

After I get done reading that chapter I just feel like the weight of the world has been lifted from these incredibly old shoulders of mine. I feel rested and relaxed. All my cares are gone and the sunshine seems just a little brighter. All the benefits of a vacation without having to leave my house.

My prayer for you this morning is that you would take a vacation break, right where you are. Open up your Bible and read Romans eight. You too may find rest and relaxation in the arms of Christ.

"38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 8:38-39

Amen. :)