Does every path that goes up lead to picnic tables?

At a recent conference I was challenged to be obedient to the 4th commandment, "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."--Exodus 20:8-11 That might sound a little conservative and old fashioned . . . and a little common sense. Maybe it is.

As I sat on a bench looking out at Cannon Beach after the conference was over , things seemed clear and the task before me not so difficult. (How could it seem hard to bask in the Rest of the Lord when you are looking out at this beautiful beach?)

The thing that I liked about the "Breathe" sabbath as it was presented to us is that they weren't advocating legalism or more "religion". They were advocating freedom--freedom to spend a whole day, 24 hours, without creating, without being productive--just as God modeled for us in the creation of the world. But none of that makes it any easier to obey.

I've been trying it. It's been hard.

I think what I've learned is that I'm a narcissist. I think too much of myself. If I don't do my part of take care of my life, it will fall apart. What an arrogant thing to think--really, my attitude is telling God, "Why don't you just let me do it? You're just going to mess it up." As if I'm thinking, "If I take one day off, God isn't going to be able to handle to details of my life. Everything will spin out of control. I won't get my laundry done or I won't make enough money."

The irony is, my life spins out of control when I'm in charge, not when God's in charge.

The first time I tried this Sabbath keeping my roommates and I went to Moulton Falls--a small county park about 45 minutes from our house. The falls weren't spectacular, but they were pretty. We spent a least an hour taking pics and hiking through the woods on trails that we found around the park. We were actually looking for a second falls that I thought should exist according to the map I'd seen on the internet. But we didn't have the map. All we kept finding were picnic tables (which as you can see from the map, is really I'll you'll find).

I sat down on one of the picnic tables to catch my breath and asked in a purposefully forlourn voice, "Do all paths that go up only lead to picnic tables?" We are all started laughing. And then I asked, "If so, what kind of spiritual implication does that have?" We were just having fun and making the best of these trails that we kept hoping would lead us to another waterfall, but it really made me think. Picnic tables make me think if camping and fun and feasting together. So, really, in a way, the spiritual path that leads up does lead to picnic tables. Revelation 7:16 says, "Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst . . . . We'll be feasting forever with God in heaven.