I love the old story about a man who had been driving all night and by morning was still far from his destination. He decided to stop at the next city he came to, and park somewhere quiet so he could get an hour or two of sleep.
As luck would have it, the quiet place he chose happened to be on one of the city's major jogging routes. No sooner had he settled back to snooze when there came a knocking on his window. He looked out and saw a jogger running in place. "Yes?"
"Excuse me, sir," the jogger said, "do you have the time?" The man looked at the car clock and answered, "8:15". The jogger said thanks and left.
The man settled back again, and was just dozing off when there was another knock on the window and another jogger. "Excuse me, sir, do you have the time?" "8:25!" The jogger said thanks and left.
Now the man could see other joggers passing by and he knew it was only a matter of time before another one disturbed him. To avoid the problem, he got out a pen and paper and put a sign in his window saying, "I do not know the time!"
Once again he settled back to sleep. He was just dozing off when there was another knock on the window. "Sir, sir? It's 8:45!"
Our stress-filled modern lives are dominated by the clock. We get up with an alarm clock, go to work and clock in, put in our time, and then clock out and go back home. We tick off the seconds, the minutes, the hours, the days, the weeks, the months, the years, and the decades. As we do, we fill out our allotted time here on earth.
But sometimes, it is good to find the time to get off the clock That is why I personally believe that vacation season is a good thing. Simply put: all of us need some periodic “down time”.
Jesus illustrated this. No one ever made better use of His time in this world than did Jesus Christ, Who was able, at the end of His life, to affirm in prayer to the Heavenly Father that He had fully completed the work He had been given to do in this world.
Yet, when we read the New Testament Gospels, we soon discover that, on numerous occasions, Jesus seems to have clocked out, as it were, and took some time off. He would regularly go off by Himself for private time alone with His Heavenly Father to rest and recuperate.
Could it be that this was His secret? Could it not be that the very reason He was able to be so productive was because He regularly took time to recharge?
And could this not also hold true for us? Could it not be that a vacation might be just what the Divine Physician would order for each of us? The answer should be obvious.
And so, my friend, if you have not yet had a summer vacation; then I hope you get one very soon. And I hope your “time off” translates into a little “time out” in the process. After all, there could hardly be a better use for a week or two of your time!
STORY: http://jokes.christiansunite.com/Travel/What_Time_Is_It.shtml.
SEE ALSO: Bill Gaultiere, of Soul Shepherding Ministries, documents nearly two dozen times in Scripture when Jesus went off by Himself. Cf.: http://www.soulshepherding.org/2013/02/jesus-solitude-and-silence/.
As luck would have it, the quiet place he chose happened to be on one of the city's major jogging routes. No sooner had he settled back to snooze when there came a knocking on his window. He looked out and saw a jogger running in place. "Yes?"
"Excuse me, sir," the jogger said, "do you have the time?" The man looked at the car clock and answered, "8:15". The jogger said thanks and left.
The man settled back again, and was just dozing off when there was another knock on the window and another jogger. "Excuse me, sir, do you have the time?" "8:25!" The jogger said thanks and left.
Now the man could see other joggers passing by and he knew it was only a matter of time before another one disturbed him. To avoid the problem, he got out a pen and paper and put a sign in his window saying, "I do not know the time!"
Once again he settled back to sleep. He was just dozing off when there was another knock on the window. "Sir, sir? It's 8:45!"
Our stress-filled modern lives are dominated by the clock. We get up with an alarm clock, go to work and clock in, put in our time, and then clock out and go back home. We tick off the seconds, the minutes, the hours, the days, the weeks, the months, the years, and the decades. As we do, we fill out our allotted time here on earth.
But sometimes, it is good to find the time to get off the clock That is why I personally believe that vacation season is a good thing. Simply put: all of us need some periodic “down time”.
Jesus illustrated this. No one ever made better use of His time in this world than did Jesus Christ, Who was able, at the end of His life, to affirm in prayer to the Heavenly Father that He had fully completed the work He had been given to do in this world.
Yet, when we read the New Testament Gospels, we soon discover that, on numerous occasions, Jesus seems to have clocked out, as it were, and took some time off. He would regularly go off by Himself for private time alone with His Heavenly Father to rest and recuperate.
Could it be that this was His secret? Could it not be that the very reason He was able to be so productive was because He regularly took time to recharge?
And could this not also hold true for us? Could it not be that a vacation might be just what the Divine Physician would order for each of us? The answer should be obvious.
And so, my friend, if you have not yet had a summer vacation; then I hope you get one very soon. And I hope your “time off” translates into a little “time out” in the process. After all, there could hardly be a better use for a week or two of your time!
STORY: http://jokes.christiansunite.com/Travel/What_Time_Is_It.shtml.
SEE ALSO: Bill Gaultiere, of Soul Shepherding Ministries, documents nearly two dozen times in Scripture when Jesus went off by Himself. Cf.: http://www.soulshepherding.org/2013/02/jesus-solitude-and-silence/.