Holidays!!

Yes, it’s that time of the year again, when my wife and I head off for what some of our friends now refer to as our “annual pilgrimage” to France! It’s something to which we do look forward and, in spite of having preached three times today, I’ve managed to wash the car, move the caravan round to the driveway, and get myself reasonably organised to leave sometime before noon tomorrow.

At Preshal, this evening, I was greatly encouraged. First of all, I had a ‘strong’ word that I believed the Lord would have me share with the folk there, and this was received very graciously. However, when we were asked about our holiday, and the length of time for which we would be away, I confessed to a little embarrassment when I informed them that we would be away for just over five weeks! It was very encouraging to be assured that we worked hard, and therefore deserved a decent break. I’m not absolutely convinced about the ‘deserved’ bit – but I suppose that that means that our holiday may be viewed as a further manifestation of the grace of God in our lives.

Of course, there was a time when the only ‘holiday’ that the average person in this part of the world enjoyed, was a ‘holy day’ – one of the special feasts of the Christian church. Indeed, our modern word ‘holiday’ is simply a contraction (some would say, corruption!) of ‘holy day’. And holidays are good. We all need to have an opportunity to relax; to recharge both our physical and our spiritual batteries; to be restored and reinvigorated for whatever lies ahead. That’s why I like the word ‘recreation’. It speaks of the process of being ‘created anew’; of being refreshed – made fresh again.

And this is something that comes from the Creator Himself. Right at the beginning, He ordained that mankind should work six days, and rest on the seventh day. And it’s interesting to realise that the seven-day week is the only time period that has no astronomical explanation! A day is the period of time that it takes for the earth to rotate once on its axis; a year is the time it takes for the earth to travel a complete orbit around the sun; a month is the approximate time for the moon to orbit the earth. But the week has no such natural explanation. It was simply God’s idea – and, I would suggest, we in the UK have suffered because we have, by and large, thrown out that seventh day of rest and recreation, so that Sunday has become just another shopping and work day. I find it sadly amusing (if that isn’t an oxymoron!) that Sunday trading was ‘sold’ to the population about fifteen years ago partly on the basis that it would bring us in line with mainland Europe. It would be a ‘continental Sunday’. I can’t speak for the whole of Europe, but I know that the areas of France and Germany that we tend to visit have very little open on a Sunday, and even the large supermarkets that do open, do so for only a few hours in the morning!

So, there are unlikely to be any posts until the middle of August – unless we find a camp-site with free wi-fi access. I had hoped to add some live taped messages to my other blog at revcbross.blogspot.com but the connection between the tape-deck and the computer isn’t functioning properly – a wee job for when I return.

I do hope that, wherever you may be reading this post you, too, will have some opportunity to enjoy a break, and be refreshed yourself. Please keep me in your ‘Favourites’, or set up a direct feed to your e-mail inbox. I look forward to being back in about six weeks’ time. :-)