 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Is it your vacation week yet? Folks all around us are either talking about their upcoming vacation or the vacation that they just took, it seems. It’s that time of year! The time away from responsibilities helps us to refresh our minds, recharge our internal batteries and (hopefully) come back to work with a new attitude. Even Jesus left everyone to go off and be alone. Read with me in Matthew 14: 23 “And when he (Jesus) had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.” This was the humanity of Jesus. He had just performed the miracle of feeding the crowd of 5,000 people and had healed many of them, but his body and mind was weary and tired with the demands of the people around him and he needed a break! Sound familiar? At the crisis point of his earthly life he took three of his disciples into Gethsemane with him to help him pray. They, tired in their bodies, fell asleep “and he left them and went away again, and prayed…” (Matthew 26:44) If Jesus – who was “God manifest in the flesh” (I Timothy 3:16) – needed a break and desired time alone with God, his father, doesn’t it make sense that we need the same thing? I’m in Perry, Ga. this week at our annual Camp Meeting as you read this. Folks are here from across the country and we will spend this week visiting old friends, worshipping God, inspiring lost souls to seek God and renewing my inner man. It will be a busy week full of services and activities – hardly a “rest”! Everything in life springs from inside us, though, from our hearts and minds, so the break from daily routine and the focus on serving God will bring us home with inspired spirits in spite of tired bodies! Years ago many churches held camp meetings. Our first one was held in 1939 and has been held continuously since then. Many of the old camp meetings have expired, sadly. Some of the old camp grounds are still in existence, but many that I’ve visited are viewed as a monument to history only, not as a modern-day tool of the church. If you’ve never attended a camp meeting, find one and make plans to visit! You’ll be taken back in time when you realize that so much of the modern world that surrounds us every day is missing – tv, computers, radio, etc. It will amaze you how much easier it is to concentrate and focus on the things of God when you simplify your life, even if for a moment in time. Remember, God’s greatest desire from the beginning of time has simply been to have fellowship with us, the height of his creation. Are you taking time out to spend with God? p.s. You can watch our camp meeting services live at 10:30, 3:00 and 7:30 every day this week at cshcl.com. Click on “live services” to join us! Archived Gary's Musing Click Here |
 |
 |
Gary's
Musings