What would you miss if you left home for a time?  Maybe the savory home-cooked meals, maybe the hot-water shower, maybe your own car for predictable transportation, maybe the familiarity of your neighborhood, maybe the people you love… I guess you never really know until you leave home for the first time, and I was very surprised at my answer.

We arrived in Khon Kaen, Thailand on Tuesday, September 16.  The rest of that week was great!  When I met an important politician…when I saw fried bugs and whole squid in the open air market….when my house was a “terrarium” with a visiting frog, lizard, and tokay gecko… when I tasted exotic pungent dishes…

As the sun penetrated the heavy curtains the realization hit me like a hammer that was pounding on the constructing site next door.  What made it harder was that I totally did not expect to miss this. “Today is Sabbath!”  And my day suddenly looked dismal!  Sabbath was such a highlight of my week!  It was a great day to look forward to!  Now I dreaded it.

So was it God’s Sabbath that I always enjoyed or was it my traditions? God’s Sabbath is universal because God is universal.  I can enjoy it anywhere on the globe because God is omnipresent.  I can enjoy it forever because God is eternal.  However, my traditions are temporary and limited.  I can’t have my Peanut Butter Captain Crunch for breakfast; I can’t get elegantly dressed for church; I can’t meet up with my best friend; I can’t have a delectable lunch; I can’t hang out with those fun people on an afternoon hike…I can’t, I can’t, I can’t, I can’t…The thought strikes me now of how dreary Sabbath must be for those who consider it a day of “I can’ts.” 

Thankfully, I didn’t grow up with Sabbath being a day of “I can’ts.” It was a fantastic day always!  Praise God for a family that showed us as children that Sabbath is a fun day by concretely planning things and making family traditions for us all to look forward to on Sabbath!  Sabbath was always a day of “I get to!”  But on my first Sabbath in Thailand, God reminded me that the true thing “I get to” do on Sabbath is to meet with Him in a closer way than on any other day of the week.  That is truly what Sabbath is! (plus other reasons like serving others…) So regardless of where I am, Sabbath can still be special for on that day I have a date with my Best Friend, the God of the universe! 

This Sabbath, I hope you are reminded that God created this day as a special time to meet with you personally because He wants a relationship with you!

“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day,and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the Lord.”

Isaiah 58: 13-14a ESV

(photos: song service, Pastor Wuanlop, church at the music school, potluck)

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