"However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."  Luke 10:20

Have you ever had a good day?  I mean a really good day?

They are the days when you have trouble going to sleep at night because you can't wind down.  They are the days that you just can't stop talking, and you have an energy that seems to be indiffusable.  They are funny days aren't they?  They really do have the capacity to make us feel like we are sitting on top of the world with a cool breeze blowing us along.  I love those days, don't you?

I just had one of those days and I am trying to process it a little.  Within a twenty-four hour period, there has been some cool stuff happen:

- My dissertation proposal was accepted with very few changes

- Friends of mine just had a healthy baby girl

- I have been invited to speak at an envisioning event in Cuba for hundreds of pastors to talk about The Mission we are all on

- I have been invited to speak at a conference (well, lead a workshop really) that is being hosted by one of the more recognizable pastors in the country (won't name drop though)

- I had a conversation with a friend about an incredible, growing vision for a potential church plant in another state that looks doable

- I saw a new friend that has just accepted Christ at an event last night that he would not have normally attended (another very recognizable person - again, no silly name dropping)

That's a pretty doggone good day in my book.  Your "great day" might look alot different......in fact, I'm sure it would.  Nonetheless, good days are good days - whatever they look like.

Well, interestingly, I was reading a passage (re-reading it to be more precise) this morning about some disciples of Jesus having a great day.  Jesus had prepared them through some time spent with him to not just know what he knew, but to become what he was.  He had modeled life for them, then he brought them along to do stuff with him, and now he was actually releasing them to go do some stuff like he would do.  So, he gave them some instructions and off they went.

When they came back, they were on top of the world.  "Hey Jesus, even the demons submit to us in your name!!"  "Yeah, Jesus, I even healed this guy with a disease, how about that?"  "Jesus, I totally preached the gospel of the kingdom to all of those people today....and a bunch of them want to follow you - is that rockin' or what?!!!"  And on and on these comments went because these people were jacked up with the taste of a great day.

What's cool is that Jesus is pumped up too.  He loves it.  Just loves it.  But in His unparalleled wisdom, he makes sure that they don't forget something real important:  Don't get pumped up about what you do for God........Get pumped up about what God has done for you.

Jesus tells them, "Hey guys, don't get fired up that you can boot demons around - get fired up that I have set you free from the shackles that used to hold you and that you have a new heart that will change your today and give you the certain hope that you will be with me forever in heaven."

In other words, Don't get pumped up about what you do for God.........Get pumped up about what God has done for you.

Realistically, this means that my great day is really God's great day.  If I pause long enough, I didn't really do anything to deserve any of what I mentioned above as a contributor to "my" great day.  God really did it.  I'm affected by it for sure, but I am not the initiator of it - God is.  It's about what He is doing for me, in me, with me, through me.

So, I have changed my perspective in this new day.  I am going to get jacked up about God and what He does for me.  He believes in me.  He loves me.  He shows me mercy.  He corrects me.  He uses me.  He helps me.  He energizes me.  He amazes me.  He confounds me.  He changes me.  He forms me.

He's always having a good day.

"The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught.  Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.""  Mark 6:30-31

Vacations can be tough.

I'm on one right now, and I am having a great time........but it is because I have learned some secrets along the way.  First, the idea of "vacation" really is somewhat odious as a concept.  The idea is that you vacate a place/job/life/reality for a period of time and things will be better.

Yeah, right.  Have you ever talked to a mom and dad with a family of three kids after they returned from that vacation of a lifetime,  complete with RV, planned Cracker Barrel stops, and various amusements and attractions along the 4,000 mile/8 day journey?  Ask them how rested they feel.  They are begging to go back to spreadsheets or laundry or spaghetti-O's just for some sense of normalcy and peace.

Why do we "vacation?"  I hate the word.  We in the States have taken a great concept, and just consumer-washed it with some idea of the American dream that ends up becoming a nightmare.  I have always longed for the idea to be back to its original intent - that of rest (of course, extended Sabbath rest would fit here as a concept too).  I have friends from the UK and Canada, and I love what they say when they are going on vacation.  They say they are going to be on "holiday."  That is fantastic, and if appropriately understood and applied, is far closer to what would be good for us emotionally, physically, and, yes, spiritually.  The word "holiday" finds its meaning in two words............"holy" and "day."  A holy day.  A string of holy days.  Now that sounds inviting.  Much better than trying to "vacate" reality or become vacuous I would say.

As I said, I have learned some lessons over the years about this (other lessons, like even tanning, have yet to congeal in my grey matter.........seriously, I look like a spotted leopard with eczyma and poison ivy right now).  It seems that at times in the past, I have concluded that vacationing meant vacating everything associated with my normal life so that I could live (abnormally?) in an alternate reality for a while.  And I concluded that it would be refreshing.  It's not actually.  Not at all.  I feel empty when I have done that.  Vacuous.  Because, as a pastor, I thought that maybe I could take a vacation from God during that two week period so that I could rest up and be ready for when He throws me back at the world to save it single-handedly.  That disease is called moronitis (think on that a minute if it doesn't initially register).  I was more tired spiritually and emotionally after that type of vacation than before it.

What's the secret?  Well, there really is no secret.  Jesus said it pretty clearly to his disciples: "Come with me by yourselves......".  That phrase  seems a little weird at first, and may escape our understanding if we don't stop to listen.  Normally, the common mantra that people feed you if you have been working hard is that you need to "get away by yourself" or "get away with your family", etc..  The question is, where is Jesus in all of that "getting away?"  He says that for us to find rest, we will need to come away with Him.   With Him, not away from Him.

So, what does that look like for a family "vacation?"  Well, I think that seeing God in the relationships you have with your family is a place to start.  I also think that mom and dad can create some space to be alone with God if they are creative.  Case in point:  My wife and I trade exercising time while the other stays with our kids.  This is fantastic time with God.  In fact, in one of our pit stops in Atlanta, I went running one morning and decided to run all the way to the neighborhood pool where I met Jesus back in the summer of 1989.  I found it, and the memories came flooding back.  I looked up into heaven just a few days ago, standing in the same place that I met him 18 years ago, and told him "thanks."  I was a little overwhelmed as I thought about all of this journey starting right there in that street outside the neighborhood pool.

That was a holiday (holy day).  Hope to have some more before I am done................hope you have a great holiday too. 

"Praise the LORD.  Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who finds great delight in his commands.....  Surely he will never be shaken; a righteous man will be remembered forever.  He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.  His heart is secure, he will have no fear; in the end he will look in triumph on his foes."  Psalm 112:1;6-8

I hate bad news.  Always have.

I remember one of the first times that bad news really hit me.  I don't remember how old I was, but I was young (maybe 8 or 9).  My mom and dad had to let me know that my infant cousin had been run over by a car in his own driveway and killed.  I was about 11 years old or so when the next wave of bad news came.  My baseball coach from my championship team was killed in a car accident on a rainy night in Georgia.  I still remember my parents coming into my bedroom and sitting on my bed in the dark telling me the news.

And that was not the last time I would get bad news.  Not by a long shot.  

"Your great grandmother died."  "Your grandmother died."  "Your grandad died."  "Your grandmother has Alzheimer's."  "Your high school buddy and baseball teammate wrapped his car around a pole driving drunk - he didn't make it."  "Your father-in-law died."  "Your child is in distress in the womb and not getting enough oxygen - we are going to have to do an emergency C-section."   I did not like the way any of that news felt.

Still don't.

You have your list too.  We all do.  Bad news is that thing you brace yourself for.  If someone says to us, "I have some good news and bad news," we always want the bad news first, because we want some hope of good news to follow it - some antidote to the poison we feel we just swallowed.  And it seems that even trying to brace yourself for bad news doesn't work.  It doesn't matter if I am "seated" or standing or eating cracker jacks - bad news is bad news and there is no armor to defend against it.

Or is there?

The Psalmist of about 3,000 years ago had some ancient insight that we should pay attention to - especially those like me who hate bad news:

A heart that trusts in the LORD is secure, and it fights against the fear of bad news.

Seems simple.  It isn't.  Not when you are facing bad news in real life.  But though it is not simple, it is yet very true.  Trust is the foundation of having a secure heart.  A heart that doesn't trust God, trusts itself.  And a heart that trusts itself and its control quickly spirals downward when you get news that is both bad and beyond your control.  You have no choice but to panic really.  It's all your heart can do when you trust yourself.

Trusting God, however, brings perspective.  Hope.  Peace.  We will be taken aback by bad news - we always are - but we don't have to be so shaken that our core crumbles.  Why?  Because our trust in God's goodness and control and higher ways will stabilize our hearts.

I keep trying to remind myself of that because bad news will come again - it just can't help itself.  But I don't have to live in fear of it because God is trustworthy and will cause my heart to be steadfast and secure.