From the Pastor’s Desk

Jim Strickland was a pastor in a small farming community in South Georgia.  One sunny autumn day he was talking with an old farmer as they stood on the edge of a large field of cotton and watched a machine pick six rows of cotton at once.  Having grown up in south Alabama around cotton farming, Jim commented, “My grandfather would not believe that a machine could pick six rows of cotton in a matter of minutes.” 

The old farmer looked at Jim, smiled, and said, “Yes, we have wonderful machines today that help us in farming, but I really miss my mules.”  Jim was puzzled and asked him why. 

The farmer replied, “These machines can work day and night, seven days a week, without needing rest.  My mules could work for about six days, but then they needed to rest. If they didn’t get some rest, they didn’t have any energy the next week. Their need for rest made me rest, too.”

There is a lot of truth to the old farmer’s words. Machines may not need rest but the people running them do. And, even the machines have to be shut down for maintenance once in a while. A machine will soon tell on an operator who does not maintain it properly.

God created us with the Sabbath in mind. “Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed,” (Ex 23:12). In other words, you and everything you have must rest on the Sabbath.

The soul and body of man must be refreshed. A soul that does not regularly find a time of refreshing with God will soon show evidence of worldly wear and tear. We need a time of refreshing. God gave the Sabbath for that reason.

Let’s remember the above in those “too busy to stop” weeks, which seems to come so often.