Vacation
My wife and I are about ready to leave on a vacation. It really is the first time we’ve gotten away in the last three years. My wife’s parents have had a series of health issues, and she has volunteered to make extended trips to help them out. Oh, we’ve gone on short trips to see family or a friend’s birthday and those were great. However, we are looking forward to the two of us getting away for a relaxing trip.
When we started discussing this vacation, the question came up “what do we want to do there?” We’ve been to this location several times and have enjoyed it so we don’t feel like we have to revisit everything we’ve seen over those previous trips. The comment I remember us telling each other is that we’d be happy laying on a beach and reading a book.
That’s when the inevitable vacation creep started happening. First it was questioning if there were any activities that required getting tickets ahead of time. That evolved into her encouragement for me to pursue a couple of fun activities on the first few days of our trip when she is professionally busy. That evolved into a “wouldn’t it be fun to visit a working tropical farm?” Now just a couple of days prior to leaving, I think we have planned activities on roughly half the days we’ll be gone.
While that change of vacation focus was occurring, we’ve picked up extra activities in our lives to get ready to leave. You know, getting stuff out to pack, getting instructions ready for the guy who will take care of our pets, juggling other activities for being gone, and the list goes on and on.
On top of that, this week is Easter week. The church is putting on extra activities in music and worship that we are involved in.
I know, I know, it sounds like I’m whining about all these blessings. I also know that you may be thinking something like “if you only knew how stressed my life is…” I’ve been taught a couple times that whenever I focus too much on what I’ve got going on I miss the real important things in other’s life (Thank you Jesus for that lesson).
That brings me back to Easter Sunday and Holy Week. What a day Easter Sunday is to look forward to!
“But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” - Isaiah 53:5 ESV
“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” - Romans 5:6-11 ESV
“His glory is great through your salvation; splendor and majesty you bestow on him.” - Psalm 21:5 ESV
May we each take some extra time to reflect on how blessed we are to have a God who is willing to save us from what we truly deserve.
