for 3 DEC 05: GIMME A BREAK
(BLOGGER'S NOTE: You may find this humorous, serious, or a little of both - but from time to time, we offer things to reflect upon as we keep the seventh-day Sabbath.)
"How are you doing?" asked the man walking across the wide green space in the middle of Broadway.
"Morning," I said politely in response. I was taking a stroll in the Historic District, as I often do on Saturday mornings. The leaves were looking gorgeous, and a few flowers amazingly were still in bloom on Thanksgiving weekend.
But this man wanted more than a polite greeting. "Do you have any work I can do? Raking leaves, something like that? I'm trying to get to Panama City. I'm a veteran - a disabled veteran." Yet he walked across Broadway to me very well. But perhaps pathological lying can be a disability.
"Can you help me get to Panama City? I only need a few dollars." I was committed to be Worship Leader at church that afternoon - else I might have shocked him and offered to drive him to Florida at once.
If you've read this blog for any time at all, you know I constantly have run-ins with beggars - and I often try to help him. But on this day, the man lost me as soon as he said "work I can do." After he finished his appeal, I answered.
"This is Saturday, sir. It's the Sabbath day. That's why I'm out here relaxing, not working. This is a rest day."
"OK, I see," the beggar responded. "I'm going down to the church right now." He probably would be disappointed - because the Anglican church near 4th and Broadway was closed. Not because they keep a Saturday Sabbath, I don't think....
If the beggar thought he understood my point, he really didn't. God created a Sabbath day long ago, after six days of creation. It's a day for rest, and not for work. And I know from experience with long weeks that God knew what He was doing. A Sabbath rest DOES work - to refresh and reinvigorate me, among other benefits.
If you feel you have to work today to make ends meet or keep up with the neighbors, maybe you should stop and think about this. A Sabbath day off could be good for your body, good for your mind - and if you work long hours, it probably
will be good for your family relations. Take a one-day stop, before you wear out and drop.
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