Ron DeBoer
7/10/2013
If you’re fortunate enough to be able to go away for holidays this summer, you’ve probably already begun the planning. You’ve checked maps, scouted out places to visit, and booked your accommodations. As you get closer to the time of your departure, you will pack the things you will need. Camping gear, maybe. Suitcases. An iPad with novels downloaded. Beachwear. You will check and double-check that you have your passport, wallet, and cell phone. If you’ve gone on vacation, you know that sweet feeling of finally getting on the highway and seeing the outskirts of your town grow smaller in your rear-view mirror.
Going away allows you to recharge your batteries, relax, and
get out of the routine that you and your family have followed for the last year.
Psychologists will tell you that going away causes your brain to make new
connections under different conditions and allows you to become more creative in
your thinking. You release yourself from the shackles of the ordinary.
Some people leave on vacation and desire to truly escape from
everything, including their devotion routines. Theirs is a vacation in the
literal sense. They vacate. Finding a church isn’t even a consideration
when they are visiting another place. If doing supper-hour devotions is
considered routine, they vacate that habit as well. Some lower their standards
for themselves when they’re away from home, as if they can take a vacation from
their values, morals, or beliefs. What happens in Vegas is still seen by
God!
I like the term “holiday” to describe going away. The word
holiday comes from “holy day,” a day set aside by custom or law during
which normal activities are suspended or reduced. If you think of days off as
“holy days”—times when you reflect on God’s goodness and when you have the
opportunity and time to worship and praise God—your perspective on holidays
changes.
Wouldn’t it be neat to go into our holidays this summer with
a deliberate plan to commemorate and honor God? Whether it be enjoying his
wonderfully created world at a campground; visiting man-made structures, which
came ultimately from the mind of God; or wandering around museums that capture
pieces of history, everything we do and every place we visit came from the hand
of God. They are part of an ongoing creation story that fits into God’s ultimate
plan.
If you have children, buy little journals for them to write
about their observations. Call them “praise journals.” Like the psalmists, your
kids can write praises about specific activities you participate in and about
places you visit. Have them record their experiences with a digital device. Or
you can hold the camera and have your children play reporters, reporting on a
place you’ve visited. Start a YouTube channel about your “holy days” and send
the link to your extended family.
Keep God in the conversation as you travel. Cars are great
places to engage your children or other fellow travelers about God’s
faithfulness, grace, and majesty. Bring a Bible and read passages that are
relevant for your trip. A passage my family reads regularly is Psalm
139, which reassures us that God is everywhere we go. When our daughter
traveled to Africa this summer to work for a
Christian organization, we read Psalm 139 as a family on the day of her
departure. She says she’s read it several times upon her arrival and is in awe
that the God of Toronto is the God of Accra, Ghana, too! If your holidays are in
the great outdoors, there are lots of praise psalms about nature that will be
relevant.
Consider finding a church if you’re holidaying on a Sunday.
I’m always amazed at the message I hear when I’m visiting churches while
traveling. I often think that the message was made knowing I was going to come
there because it applies to me! That’s God at work.
I hope you have a wonderful summer. For those of you who are
unable to travel, I hope you enjoy some downtime to get away from your everyday
routines and turn your focus to God’s wonderful story of grace and
salvation.
Let’s end our time together with an old favorite: Awesome God. God
bless!
Ron DeBoer is
a retired teacher living near Toronto .
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