Rest And Relaxation

After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them.... 
John 3:22

Boyers campsite was a place that I have fond memories of located on a beautifully clear freshwater lake.  It was just over the Quebec border from Ontario, about an hour and a half drive away.  My parents bought a travel trailer that we would cook in and play board games in late at night or when the weather was bad.  My brother and I would camp in a tent just a few meters away from the trailer and fire pit.  Those times brought us closer together as we would swim, fish, play games... they were some of the best days of my childhood with my family.

Do you ever look at travel brochures and wish you had the time or money to go and spend some time away enjoying those far away places?  Who are some of the friends or family that you would want to take with you and enjoy experiencing them with?  Maybe you don't have to go so far as getting a travel agent and you only need to go to a park or campsite in the next town over.

Jesus wanted to be with his disciples, his friends, the ones he was pouring his life into.  Like wise his disciples wanted to be with him.   Where better to go than into the countryside?  Somewhere they could go swim, fish, maybe play some games, have a campfire and tell stories and relax.  In the countryside there were no more crowds, no more people challenging you.  It was time away from the boring day to day business of earning a living and paying the bills.

Even Jesus spent time resting and relaxing in his early ministry.  Everything written in Scripture about Jesus is there for a reason, and this verse tells us its OK to spend time relaxing with those we want to be with and those we love.  No doubt Jesus spent a few mornings staying in bed just a few minutes longer, resting.

• Make your family a priority and spend time with them.
• Show the love and concern for your spouse that they unconditionally deserve.
• Pour yourself into those who need you to teach them.
• If you're a young adult allow yourself to be transparent with a few other friends that you trust.
• Over all, rest.

"...God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work." Genesis 2:2

READ THIS! Light At Creation

And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth."  And it was so.  God made two great lights - the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night.  He also made the stars.  God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness.  And God saw that it was good.  And there was evening, and there was morning - the fourth day. 
Genesis 1:14-19

I remember the day a christian scientist came to our campus to try and give us an understanding of what science is coming up with from a creationist point of view.

There were over five hundred students in the auditorium, so when he held up an object and asked us to describe it (it was an unrecognizable blackened item),  only a brave few ventured a guess but apparently didn't even come close.  He did tell us that one day when his wife had left their house, he turned up the oven as hot as it would go, inserted the object on a cookie sheet and baked it until he achieved what he was now holding before us.  Still not one of the seminary staff or students even came close in their few guesses.

He wanted us to tell him what it was, what it originally looked like, the purpose of it, if it retained anything of its original content and what the ingredients in it were.  It looked liked a flat black "blob".  As it turned out it was a two hour baked, two litre clear plastic pop bottle, with the famous red and white Coca-Cola label on it that held a black carbonated, sugary, flavoured beverage.  How could we have known before it was destroyed by the hot oven?   There was no way to tell that it was such a famous bottle holding such a well known drink.

His analogy was simply this, just as we couldn't know what the black blob looked like in it's original form and the purpose of it, neither can we know what the earth was like in it's original state prior to the fall of man and the soon following flood.  Yet we are left with remnants of the earth and we can venture guesses of what the original looked like based on evidence of what is left of the earth as we know and experience it today.

He explained to us that the earth was encapsulated in water, somewhat like a baby in utero.  So when the light would shine on the earth it was protected by the harmful rays of the sun and the temperature was equally distributed globally.  The light rays would have been deflected from the surface of the earth rather than having them shine directly onto the earth.  Also, there would have been no total darkness since the suns rays would have been reflected back onto the earths surfaces because of refraction off the film of water on the 'night' side, in a shade of very tranquil and gentle pink hue.  Yet is was still dark enough on the night side of the earth to see all of the stars and the moon.  There originally was no total darkness but rather a magenta pink, being the most calming colour of all our colours.   God would have known that babies are inherently afraid of complete darkness but He took care to ensure that even our babies fears of dark were looked after.

When God created the light he saw it was good.  As I said in my last blog, His creation pleased him

• How does the warmth of the sun on your face feel early in the morning?
• Do you ever look up into the stars and wonder where did they all come from?
• Take time today to appreciate the creator of the sun and tonight thank Him for the beauty of the stars and the moon.