It’s that time of year again! You’ve worked hard and enjoyed the extra free Monday’s off. But a 4 day weekend doesn’t quite cut it. Especially when everybody else is off too, it just doesn’t seem that special. So what do you do? You take off a week or two and you vacate your home!
Turn in your papers, call your travel agent, click on Trip Advisor, search for that “All” inclusive deal and get as far away from home and your boss as possible…
Psst…I’m doing right now, shh… don’t tell my wife that I’m working though. We needed this time away from the city. Unfortunately, we brought the entire clan with us, so we’ll have to wait for a winter weekend getaway, to be alone. We have decent kids, however, there’s 6 of them and 2 grand kids. I know what you’re thinking, we had too much alone time, so it’s our fault it’s a little crowded. Oh be quiet….
In Deuteronomy, a book in the bible, parents are instructed by God to teach “our” children about Him…
“And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.” Deuteronomy 6:6,7 (NLT)
Walking with the Lord or should I say, having a daily relationship with Him is difficult in a crowded and noisy city. We New Yorkers, tend to rush around a lot. You tourists can make things worse at times…you hear stories about the big city and think that rushing about, pushing your way on to a train is what we do here. Sorry, it’s not. Our rushing is more about navigating through hordes of people going to work at the same. At the end of the day, we are tired and just want to go home! We really don’t like being cramped but most of the offices and jobs are on a tiny island called Manhattan.
So, we city Christians, pop in our ear buds for a quick time of worship, we whip out “Our Daily Bread” for a quick quiet time alone with God and while we’re looking out the window for our stop, we are also praying for our family, friends, coworkers, boss and other things. That’s all done in a 30 – 60 minute ride to the office. So, we really don’t get the time we need to sit with our family and talk about Christ. You do the best you can on the weekends…
Then once a year you get a vacation from daily life…but you’re never on vacation from God! For us, right next to that great summer read is our bible or bible app. Before or after breakfast is our family quiet time…a time to draw close to Jesus. Then off to the amusement park or whatever the plan is. As instructed in Deuteronomy, our talks don’t stop there, they continue throughout whole day, the whole week. It’s like refueling your gas tank after a long trip…we live in a busy city with a busy life, so any vacation away from busyness where we can refocus our attention is a good vacation.
Though we are away from home, On Holiday…we are never far from God.
T. Anthony Bland 