A Restful Weekend

Unless one learns how to relish the taste of Sabbath … one will be unable to enjoy the taste of eternity in the world to come.” - Abraham Joshua Heschel

Sabbath is hard. It shouldn’t be… but I find this to be true every time I look at the rat race around me… or, honestly, whenever I look into a mirror. Especially within our American hustle and grind culture, gotta get the kids into every season of sports, extracurricular activities, and weekend social outings. Our calendars are packed to the brim! Setting aside an entire day for rest, and embracing time with our Father, seems frivolous. But to just be in God’s presence, and not striving to accomplish something/anything - that is a foretaste of eternity.

This may seem especially difficult on a mission trip. How can we justify it? With all of the time, money, and effort that went into getting us here - we’re going to take time off?! That is exactly what we did this past weekend. Our team has been laboring well since we arrived in Costa Rica; we have done street performances in Cachi, Cartago, Paraiso, Orosi, and San Jose, which have led to great conversations in the plazas and parks with locals about the hope that can be found in Jesus Christ. Many people engaged with our students and even allowed our team to pray on their behalf. Some weren’t so interested in talking about faith or God. But as I mentioned in my last update, two different men chose to follow Jesus, so this was a great use of our time! We also spent several days serving in local schools, elementary and primary, loving on the Costa Rican students and building relationships through games and teaching. But God never needed us to do any of these things. We were merely laboring out of obedience as His followers. So now we rest.

On Saturday morning, we were able to take a rigorous hour-long hike up the mountain near our church. Brooklyn was especially glad for the hike, as it felt like a reminder of home! We traveled to a small watering hole at the base of a waterfall. It was absolutely beautiful! We gathered for our daily devotion (I read from Psalm 104), and then we worshipped God by enjoying His good gift of creation. The water was quite cold, but that didn’t stop us. Some of us just submerged instantly (like Isaac and me) to rip off the “muy frio” Band-Aid. Summer chose to acclimate by creeping into the water inch by inch. And others just got over to the waterfall and let it beat their head and shoulders into frozen submission. We spent a couple of hours here, going in and out of the water, and enjoying some time under the awning playing cards, listening to music, and just resting… to the glory of God!

On Sunday afternoon, we took another chunk of time for very intentional rest with the Lord. You recall that last Sunday, we participated in an afternoon futsal tournament. And while it was loads of fun (and we had been invited back again this weekend), it is important to know when to take a step back and recharge. We spent our morning in church, and then our devotion after lunch came from Deuteronomy 5.12-15 and Hebrews 4.9-10 - all about the beauty of the Sabbath as a good gift from God. And so I gave our team freedom from schedule and labor and expectations from 1.30-5.30 pm… and oh, was it good. Many of our students took a nap (Luke mentioned he slept pretty much the entire four hours!). Others spent a good portion of time in Scripture, journaling, or praying. Some chose to go out and walk around Cachi, grab some fries or ice cream, and worship God through savoring fantastic tastes. I was able to take a portion of time with my son to grab pizza and read some Scripture together. After dinner, we ended the day with “Mandatory Fun”, which Kelsie plans for us and is usually some form of a youth group game that gets us active and moving.

I want to tell you all that this team is doing well. They are working hard, and this weekend, they rested well. Many of the students are in a state of shock, realizing we have less than two weeks left together: one week of outreach here in Cachi, and then we will close our time out in Jaco for debriefing. However, God is not done with us here yet! Perhaps the most exciting thing that has occurred within our team, I have yet to write and post about. Stay tuned for our next blog, where two of our students share about their deeply personal encounters with Jesus.