Gone Fishing

You won't see it in a mega-store or a franchise window but in a small mom and pop shop, you just might see a sign saying, "Gone Fishing."  While business and the business of taking care of business is important, sometimes business needs to be shelved for a little while as you attend to the business of you, your need for rest and relaxation.  Every now and then, everyone needs a time out.

The God of Creation himself, created the universe in "six days" and rested on the "seventh" (Gen 2:1-2).  He took the opportunity to sit back and appreciate the work of his hands, to enjoy the fruit of his labor.  Then he ordained a Sabbath Rest for mankind, setting apart ("making it holy") a seventh day of rest, a day to relax and take in the glory of God's creation (v. 3).

While I didn't hang a "Gone Fishing" sign on my blog site yesterday, I did indeed go fishing.  After a six-hour drive at the end of a work day and shooting past my bedtime by hours, I got up before dawn to make the trek to a fishing spot my son-in-law, Jason and his friends Eric and Matthew, had picked out earlier.

We drove down some dark country roads for a while and then walked across marshy wet ground in the darkness to reach a spot on a river, where we caught a small mess of fish but enjoyed a big mess of nature.  Ducks rising up and flying right over our heads, turkeys calling out to one another in the quite dawn of the day, a turtle popping up his head just feet away, standing on a river bank as the sun began to peer over the horizon - we were experiencing a Gone Fishing Sabbath!

True rest, a relaxing of the spirit, comes when the spirit is drawn near to God.  While there are many opportunities to find that rest such as a hot cup of coffee on a cool morning while breaking open the Word of God in a quiet time of devotion, or a rousing worship with other saints, or holding a cooing baby - hanging up a gone fishing sign and heading out to nature (whether you actually fish or not) is one that I recommend for everyone from time to time.

Maybe your gone fishing is found in a flea market, searching for nothing in particular bu enjoying everything in general.  Perhaps it is, as often the case for Tandie and me, a countryside ride on our motorcycles.  You might be the one for whom a lawn chair and a shade tree produces more rest and relaxation than a vacation on an island paradise.  Whatever works for you, wherever that may take you, if it allows your spirit to rest in the presence of the Lord's glory - that's a Sabbath Moment, a Gone Fishing Day.  Hang out your sign soon and take a rest.  Jus' Say'n.