Resting Time

And he said unto them, Come ye yourselfs apart into a desert place and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. - Mark 6:31

In Luke 9 we are shown where Jesus sent the twelve apostles out by themselves to do the work he had given them. I don't know how long they were gone but when they got back they wanted to share everything they had done and taught with Jesus. Now in this scripture Jesus doesn't start but correcting their teaching or telling them what a good job they did, he tells them to withdraw from the work for a while. They may not have known it but they needed a chance to get away from everything. Maybe Peter thought about fishing but Jesus said go into a desert place, get a real change of scenery, take time to be alone with God and think about it, sometimes God wants time alone with you!

It was with thoughts like these that I finally decided to take my first vacation in over four years. God has blessed me and kept me safe but I was getting so worn down with secular work, house work and church work that I had lost my joy in living. This "worn down" feeling is not good for anyone but I believe it is really bad when it happens to a pastor. My wife set all the plans for my vacation and for eleven days we had a wonderful time playing all over the state of Florida.