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Oh how much difference a year makes!  Imagine last year at this time.  Our Governor had just begun relaxing our state COVID regulations.  We were divided into regions and given color codes signifying the kind of activities we could and could not participate in all in an effort to continue to mitigate the spread of COVID.  I remember how it felt like freedom and yet many of us still were uncertain what life would look like.  Fast forward an entire year and here we are.  Our COVID regulations are at the lowest level since before we first heard the word COVID.  

In light of changing regulations, many of us feel the need to get away and we are taking every opportunity we can.  Personally I have yearned for this summer.  Finally we were able to go on that long awaited trip to the Museum of the Bible, the one the church generously gave our family way back in October 2019. We had a blast.  Not only did we get to spend at day at the museum, but we also saw the Washington Monument, the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorial, and of course my beloved Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Washington Nationals.  Overall a great trip.  But returning from this trip was not what I had anticipated.

To get a greater picture we have to back up for a second.  This summer, our family has been blessed with 2 trips, one to DC and one to the beach.  In both cases, right before our trip, I would say my heart was experiencing deeper communion with God.  Each morning I would wake up, spend time in God’s word, pray, journal, and read a book for my own growth.  Then throughout the day as different ministry opportunities arose I was reminded of my continual need for Jesus Christ.  My heart had drawn from the well of Jesus Christ and was becoming more and more satisfied.  That is until I went on vacation. 

The interesting part about vacation is that you long for rest, recovery, and refreshment.  Many of us are tired and believe these trips will provide just what we are looking for.  Perhaps that might be the case.  But perhaps they are robbing us of more than they promise us because of our approach to them.  Personally, I was eager to get away.  Thoughts of rest and joy flooded my heart.  In my mind I had painted a picture perfect vacation filled with pleasure only to come home more discontent and more disconnected from God than before.  

Why would that be?  On each trip, I still practiced my morning routine of spending time in God’s word, praying, and reading a book for my own growth.  And yet I came back feeling more distant from God than before.  Then it hit me.  My problem wasn’t the disciplines I was practicing, it was the approach I was taking.  You see rest is a grace of God.  Refreshment is a grace of God.  Recovery is a grace of God.  Although I had sought God’s grace in my spiritual disciplines, the rest of my days were filled with as much morally upright pleasure seeking that I could find and shockingly I was left empty.  Instead of going to the Lord in prayer and thinking about the grace he has given me to be on vacation, pondering the grace of the crisp morning air, rejoicing in the grace of walking around a big city, I was more focused on what I could get out of it.  Unfortunately I sucked my vacations dry.  I expected more than they were able to give me.  They weren’t created to give soul rest.  Only God can do that.  They weren’t created to give inner peace.  Only God can do that.  They were created to provide space for God to work, but I still need to seek God and his work.  

Thus the next time our family goes on a mini-vacation, my hope is to prepare myself.  First, I want to thank God for this trip.  It is completely a grace.  I do not deserve it.  There are people all around the world who do not get to go on vacation.  I must praise God for it, not act entitled to it.  Second, I want to ask God to prepare my heart to see his grace on this trip.  Ask him that he might help my heart to find joy and rest in him and see the ways he is granting me grace through this trip.  Third, I want to ensure my heart’s desire is not to seek as much pleasure as possible, as much as I desire to enjoy God in the moment.  So instead of painting a picture of awesome food and beautiful sights, I want to paint a picture of God’s blessing and grace.  To be in awe of what God is blessing me with in the moment.  And then take time to simply pray and praise him for this moment.  To pause and say thank you God for this very moment, you are so good to me.  Would you grant this to fill my heart with your grace now.  And then be on the look out for more of God’s grace each moment of each day.  

That is my hope the next time we go on a mini-vacation.  And that is my hope for many of you as you travel over the remainder of your summer.  Don’t forget God and his grace in your travels.  Don’t get caught up in what you are doing, but rather get caught up in what he is doing.