Street Signs of Life: Rest Area

Pastor Burcham's Sermon

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Well, I have to tell you. Today I'm excited. I'm excited because my vacation starts this afternoon. It's not that I don't love all of you. That's not true. It's not that I don't love my job, not that I don't love my ministry. All of those things are true, but I have to tell you. Vacation starts this afternoon, as soon as the last service is over. If my schedule is correct and I'm pretty sure it is, we'll be leaving at 12:43 p.m. We'll be on Interstate 80. That's right. The way I figure it, we're going to end the last service at approximately 11:57. We'll be out of my office approximately at 12:12. Five to ten minutes to get home, be there about 12:23. Quick change into some shorts, down the hall, into the prepacked minivan with my smiling, loving family all buckled in, ready to go, should be on Interstate 80 at 12:43 p.m. You see, it's time for the Burcham household to have some rest and relaxation. It's time to go on vacation. It's time for us to just kick back for awhile and just enjoy ourselves. And so we have to get to it. We have a schedule to keep, and we have mileage to go. 670.36 to be exact. See, I've done a little bit of research on this to make sure the vacation is enjoyable and relaxing.

For instance, I found there are 40 rest areas in Iowa. There are 54 rest areas in Illinois, and there are a whopping 81 rest areas in Michigan. And I plan on cruising past every one of them at about 70 miles per hour because it's time to relax. There's no time for stopping here. “Kids, cross your legs. Honey, hand me another double latte. It's time for vacation.” Are you with me on this? Men, you know what I'm talking about here, right? You have to get some miles under the wheels, correct?

That's why three times as many men fall asleep at the wheel as women. Three times as many men are involved in accidents because they won't stop, they won't slow down. I don't understand why. We are blessed, the United States, with one of the premiere Interstate highway systems of the world. And one of the greatest things about our highway system is, if you are on a major interstate, you won't have to go much more than an hour, hour and a half tops, and you will run into a rest area. A rest area where you can kick back and relax, you can take a couple of minutes, stretch your legs, use the facilities, grab a cup of joe, maybe just take a look at your map. Even here in Iowa, you can check your e-mail if you want to because we have free wireless Internet. You can do all of that at a rest area and then be refreshed, refueled, re-energized. Then you can head back out on the road.

If we could learn to pull into the rest area just a little bit more often, our trips would be enjoyable and certainly they'd be a whole lot safer.

Now maybe you didn't pick up on it or not, but Jesus often pulled into a rest area. In His journey of life, on a daily basis, Jesus would pull into a rest area and spend a few moments listening to what His Father had to say and then talking to His Father through prayer. He'd get refreshed, re-energized, rejuvenated so He could go along His day. For instance, in Matthew 14, He just finds out that John the Baptist has been beheaded. John the Baptist, you recall, is the one who prepared the way for His ministry. It was His cousin and, all of a sudden, he's now dead. What does scripture say when Jesus heard what had happened? He withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place.

Jesus puts in a full day. He has compassion on the people. He heals the sick. There are 5,000, maybe 7,000 or 8,000 people when you count the women and children. He feeds all of them. Spends the day teaching. But how does He end the day? He pulls into the rest area once again and spends some time with His Father in heaven. It says, “After He had dismissed them, He went upon a mountainside by Himself to pray.” This isn't an unusual activity for Jesus. Luke tells us that Jesus pulled into the rest area on a regular basis. Luke 5 says, “But Jesus often,” that is, regularly, “withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” Jesus understood the value of spending some time in the presence of His Father, listening to what His Father had to say but also pouring His heart out to His Father in heaven. It's the rest areas as we go along the journey of life. And you and I would do well to heed Jesus' example.

You see, the choice is really ours. Either we can take a rest or we can take our chances. It's true on the highways, and it's true also in our daily journey of life. We can either take a rest, pull off into the rest area, get refreshed, or we can take our chances. I'm not exactly sure why it is when we decide to make a trip, all of a sudden, we can't stop. Now maybe not all of you suffer from this. I'll admit, yeah, I'm typical, I suffer from that. When it's time to take a long trip, let's get behind the wheel and let's get some miles underneath our belt before we stop. “So, kids, just kind of hold it for awhile and, honey, what do you mean you're hungry. We ate 7 hours ago. Wasn't that enough? It's time to get moving down the highway.” For some reason, we say we have to push it just a little bit further. “We have a quarter of a tank. We can probably make it to the next exit.” And we just keep on going. No need to pull into that rest area because that will cost us time if we do that.

Well, it costs us more than that. A survey shows there are 100,000 accidents a year that part of the police report says a cause, at least partially, was because the driver was either drowsy or fell asleep. That translates into 100,500 fatalities, 71,000 injuries, $12.5 billion in monetary loss just because we don't want to stop. We want to keep on going down the highway, push ourselves a little bit further. It's a dangerous situation. It's a dangerous situation not to pull into the rest area along the highway and I would submit that it's dangerous for us not to pull off into the rest areas God offers us, a time for us to spend just a few moments with our Creator.

But, for some reason, just as much as we won't pull into the rest area on the highway, it seems we have difficulty finding time to pull into God's rest area and to spend some quality time with Him. Now maybe not all of you suffer from this, but I'm going to go ahead and raise my hand because it's awfully difficult, on a regular basis, to make sure I'm spending some time listening to what God has to say to me through His Word or maybe reading through a devotion and then talking to God and telling Him what's happening in my life and letting Him share in those experiences. I have the best intentions of the world. I'm sure all of you do but then you look at your day and you look at your schedule and say, “Holy cow, I don't know if I'm going to get all of this done.” And what's the first thing that gets cut? Well, you just avoid that one last rest area and move on to the next.

A couple of years ago, we did a thing, a campaign of reading through the scriptures in two years. I know a lot of you participated in that. You know what I heard the most during those two years? I heard people say, “Boy, I got to get caught up. I missed a couple of days.” Some people missed a week. Some people missed a month. Saturdays turned into like going back to college, cramming for a final exam. People were reading a month's worth of material in one day just so they could get caught up. For some reason, when we look at our schedules, we just conclude we don't have time.

Martin Luther, the great reformer, used to say when he looked at his schedule for the day, the busier his schedule was, the longer he spent in prayer. I wish I could have that kind of discipline. Because experience shows me I have never, ever regretted spending time in prayer or reading God's Word. In fact, I can confidently tell you I've never been late for an appointment, I've never had to stay late at the office, and I've never had a sleepless night because I took some time to hear what God had to say to me through His Word or I spent a few moments talking to God in prayer. But I can also tell you, from my experience, that I have been stressed out, I have spent sleepless nights, and I have what I felt like was developing an ulcer because I didn't spend the time in God's Word, because I didn't take the opportunity to speak to Him. It's a dangerous situation if we avoid the rest areas God offers to us, if we don't just take those few moments to get refreshed, re-energized through His Word. So I submit it's time we make time, we pull into the rest area, and spend a few key moments every day with our Creator.

When I take a trip, there are three key rest areas I usually hit. When I think through the journey of life, your average day, there are three key times to spend with God. The first rest area we're probably going to hit this afternoon is pretty close to the beginning of the journey. Now I could be strange on this and that's okay, you can tell me, but for some reason, when I have a long journey ahead of me, we're going to try to make it to Benton Harbor, Michigan. It's about 7 hours today. We're going to leave about 1:00. It's going to be a long day. When I have that long of a journey ahead of me, for some reason, we get about maybe ½ hour, 45 minutes into the trip, I start getting antsy. I start getting itchy. I start getting a little bit, you know, anxious for things to happen. I don't last much more than an hour, hour and a half, and I have to pull off some place. Now you're all looking at me. Anyone else suffer from that? You have a long journey. It's interactive today, it's okay. It's alright. You get about 1½ hours into it and the journey seems so long, I just pull off to a rest area, stretch the legs, let the kids use the facilities, I don't know, take a look at my schedule one more time and then I get back in the cockpit, I'm ready to go. I can go 3 hours now. I'm ready. I can hit the highways and byways and go a long stretch but, for some reason, right there at the beginning, I just need a break.

The same is true for our days. We can get up in the morning, grab a cup of coffee, grab a shower, look out over our day, and, if it's going to be a marathon day, the kind of day that starts at 6:00 in the morning, you won't be hitting the hay until about midnight and it's just jam packed. Maybe you have meeting upon meeting. Maybe you have to take the kids to a dozen and one places. Maybe you have school all day. Plus you have practice all night. Maybe you have a big game. You have just a really full schedule. It's easy to be tired before you ever begin. Maybe you need to pull into the rest area, right at the beginning of the journey.

Scripture tells us Jesus did. Matthew 1 says, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went off to a solitary place where He prayed.” If you read on in Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 of Mark, you find out Jesus has a busy day. Jesus is going to be traveling to another town. There are going to be people there He's going to heal. He's also going to do some teaching. He had a little bit of a confrontation with the religious leaders of the day, kind of a typical day for Jesus but it's jam packed. So before He gets too far down the road, Jesus pulls into the rest area. He spends a few moments with His Father in heaven. Maybe over our cup of coffee or bowl of cereal, we need to spend a few moments with our God. Maybe it's the Portals of Prayer , maybe it's reading a chapter out of the Psalms. Maybe it's just a few moments of praying to Him and laying out your day. I bet you'd be surprised how much better your day goes. I know I shouldn't be, but I'm surprised when I have the discipline to start my day that way. Pull into that first rest area.

The second rest area we always hit is either before or after major construction. Now if you don't know there's major construction, you can't stop before obviously, but if you do, you can be prepared for it. For instance, we're going to be heading east on Interstate 80, through Illinois, and then go around the southern part of Chicago, just a little bit into Indiana, then north up into Michigan. Well, if you've traveled that route before, you know there is a little stretch south of Chicago there that just dips into Indiana that has been under construction, major construction. In fact, I'm not sure but I think it's been under construction since Eisenhower conceived the Interstate system. I know for a fact it's been under construction since 1984 because I've been traveling that route either down to seminary in St. Louis or over here to Iowa. Now I don't really know what they're doing because it doesn't seem to change a whole lot to me. We go down from four lanes to two lanes to one lane, and there are more semi trucks than you can shake a stick at and they are playing pinball and I'm the ball. I don't like that stretch of highway. It's a stressful part. I want to get it behind me. Stop before I hit that major construction. Just get a breather, make sure the kids are all set, and then go into it. I made the mistake once of not stopping before. Last year, coming back from Michigan. “I can make it through. Let's just push on through. It shouldn't be that bad. We'll get through the construction and then we'll stop.” Yeah, sure we will. Ran low on gas. Bumper to bumper traffic. I get stressed out and what do I do? Doesn't make sense. I take it out on the kids. I snap at them because they're getting antsy. They feel the tension in the car. They feel the stress. And so they're all of a sudden saying things, they're crying and what do I do? I feel bad because I yell back at them. I should have stopped before the major construction, regrouped, and then gone through.

Tonight, we'll stop at the first rest area in Michigan. We'll get through all that major congestion. We'll make it through the worst part of the trip. First rest stop in Michigan, we always stop there, take another breather. All right, calm down. Now we can get back on the road.

I suggest for our days it's the same way. If you have something major happening in a day, maybe you have a major presentation, maybe there is some conflict with another person and you're going to be talking to them, maybe you have a major test that's coming up, maybe you have a major meet you're going to be running in or you're going to be competing in, there's something big happening, I suggest, if you know it's happening, you take five beforehand. You take five and you just talk to God and say, “God, this is what I'm up against.” And whatever it is you need He's going to give you. And then go into that major construction. And then after, maybe even more so, take five minutes after that stressful situation, before you talk to anyone else, before you go home to your family, before you interact with your kids, take five minutes now and just sort of unwind with God. Tell Him about what happened, what's been on your mind, what's happening so when you go home, all of your frustration, your stress, your anxiety, you don't take it with you, you've worked that out with God. You've pulled into His rest area and you've gotten refreshed, re-energized and, all of a sudden, your time with family and friends is a whole lot better if you just pull into the rest area, spend some time with your Maker.

The third and final rest area for the day is when you finally arrive, when you're finally there. Tonight I'm hoping about 8:00 or 9:00 we're going to pull into the Comfort Suites at Benton Harbor, Michigan. We're going to get all checked in and the kids know, for the first five minutes, Dad's going to sit down even though he's been sitting in the minivan all this time, he's going to sit down for a minute and just kind of unwind from the trip.

At the end of your day, touch base one more time with God. Pull into His rest area just one final time for the day. A lot of people tell me they feel guilty because sometimes they fall asleep at night praying to God. I need to tell you that's most every night for me, and I can't think of a better way to fall asleep. You see, I don't think God believes I'm being rude and it's certainly not that I think God is boring. It's just that I'm pouring out my heart and then I feel at peace and I go to sleep. I relate it to this. Have you ever had a chatty child? I've had two out of my four. They just talk incessantly. They're fun but they're kind of wearing on you. When they're young, they used to crawl up in my lap and they'd talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and, all of a sudden, I noticed it got quiet and I'd look down and they fell asleep talking. You know, they didn't bother me. It didn't bother me as a father. I just would lift them up and I'd lovingly tuck them in their bed for the night.

That's my picture when I go to sleep at night, that I'm in my Father's arms and I'm talking to Him and I fall asleep talking and He doesn't mind. He just lovingly tucks me in for the night for a peaceful rest. That's the last rest area God gives us.

Rest areas in life. They're just as important as the highway. We want to convince ourselves we don't have time. It's simply not true. How much longer will it take you to get to your destination if you pull into a rest area or two? Twenty minutes, forty minutes, maybe an hour? Is that really that much time to make sure the journey is enjoyable, that you arrive refreshed, and that you're safe? The same is true of our daily life. We have the time. Now some of you are thinking, “Boy, everything I have outlined here, I'm going to spend half my day praying.” You know, I could probably make a pretty good case for that but that's not really what it is. If you'd combine all of this together, all three rest stops, you know how much time you'd spend? Twenty minutes, forty minutes tops. That's all we're talking out of 24 hours. Twenty or forty minutes. I'm talking about maybe ten or fifteen minutes in the morning, a short devotional, some prayer. Maybe a couple of minutes of prayer before that stressful situation, a couple minutes after. And then a few minutes at night as you're falling to sleep. We're talking twenty to forty minutes of pulling into God's rest area and facing life a whole lot more enjoyable way and being refreshed and re-energized because you've connected with your God.

Let's do this. For the next week, pick one rest area. Maybe it's in the morning. Maybe it's before the stressful situation or maybe it's at night. Pick one rest area you're not stopping in currently. And for the next seven days, make the commitment to do that. At the end of seven days, do it again. At the end of fourteen days, do it again. Just that first rest area. Then add the second one. Then add the third one. Because after three weeks, it'll be a habit. After three weeks, if you don't pull into the rest area, you won't know what to do.

Pull into God's rest area. Reconnect. Be refreshed. Be re-energized. Amen.

Copyright 2006 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church