Rest and Russia

8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Exodus 20:8-10

As the workaholic that I am most sure that I am, I love talks, articles, books...bascially anything that hits on the topic of rest in a biblical way. They are always able to speak truth and grace into my life as I remember that rest is important, vital, and a command by the Lord. I just finished listening to a sermon I missed a couple of weeks ago from my church on this exact topic. Something in the talk I listened to today that stood out more than what I've heard before, though, was the reality that rest isn't about taking more vacations and naps. It is about finding rest in the Lord. The reality that the Lord took a day of rest at the end of creation to admire and be satisfied in what He had created. Rest is for us to be pointed to the Lord and be completely satisfied in Him. To admire and glorify Him. We are to do that in all we do, work or rest, but how sweet that the Lord values us being satfisfied in Him so much he commands us to rest. It still blows my mind as it goes against the cultural norm of working all the time and my own predisposition to send yet another email. I mean even after listening and being challenged by the sermon, I immediately went and checked my work email and almost updated our website.

I think the question that hit me most, though, was the question, "Do you wear the confession of 'I work too much' as a badge of honor?" My pastor was talking about how oftentimes, especially in the context of prayer requests, we will ask for prayers to slow down and rest in the Lord, but really do we sometimes actually take pride in how hard we work all of the time, as we are asking for prayers? I mean no one wants to admit they are lazy and don't do anything, but for some reason there is a sense of pride that comes when saying "I work too much." Both extremes aren't healthy, though. He wasn't saying don't work hard when you are working. Do that. Work hard and well in all you do, but then rest hard and well also. It's a balance all to glorify the Lord.

So once again I'm asking the Lord to teach me to rest. Anyway, I most likely did not convey the sermon as well as it was put, so you can find it here.

http://www.redeemerlubbock.org/sermon/fourth-commandment-work-and-rest-rhythm/.

In other news, can I just share how refreshing this semester has been for me? Last year if you knew me, you know how hard it was since it was a huge transition year. This school year, however, feels like a completely different story. Ministry has been so encouraging and just plain fun! I'm pumped about getting the privilage to lead the Moscow project this summer! Friday we were able to have a dinner casting vision for the ministry in Russia and inviting students to come join us there this summer in Moscow. My coleader Burke, from OU, was able to come down, meet students, and guide the time. We planned the dinner in less than a week, but prayed that 20 students of the 35 or so we invited would be able to come. Come Friday night, I'm pretty sure there were 22 there! About half of those, indicated really high interest in coming to Russia this summer!!!! What an incredible answer to prayer as the partnership with Moscow continues to gain momentum again!!!!

Here are some pictures from the evening. Enjoy!!!!