Rest is such a wonderful thing, isn’t it?  I don’t know about you, but the highlight of my day is when I hit that pillow at night.  Jerry will tell you—one minute and I’m out!   It’s so easy to lie down and go to sleep, but you know it can be really hard to get up in the morning.   Someone well said that there are only two kinds of people in the world—those who wake up in the morning and say, “Good morning, Lord,” and those who wake up and say, “Good Lord, it’s morning!” 

I admit I rely heavily on my coffee for an “attitude adjustment,” but I think it’s because I just don’t get quite enough rest.   So much to do—and so little time!  Packing our schedules to the hilt seems to be the syndrome of the day, doesn’t it?   Have you ever heard of a pastor who works just a 40 hour week?  Don’t you wish YOU could work only that much?  I know you people out there.   Your days are jam-packed full!  If you’re young and have a family, your kids take up every bit of spare time you might have had after work, with sports, music lessons, homework, home maintenance, shopping and other activities.   And even if you’re retired, you fill your days with all your necessary chores, house, yard and car maintenance, removing bark beetle infested trees, creating a “defensible space” around your home, traveling, visiting grandchildren, medical appointments, social activities—that’s without mentioning all your church involvement--for all of you—essential, of course, for you give and grow and are nurtured, in so many ways…

We live in a world where everything is related to time, time, time!   A guy named Smith climbed to the top of Mt. Sinai to get close enough to talk to God.  Looking up, he asks the Lord, “God what does a million years mean to you?”  The Lord answers back “A minute.”  Smith asks, “And what does a million dollars mean to you?”  The Lord replies, “A penny.”  Smith asks, “Can I have a penny?”  The Lord answers again, “In a minute.”

We say “time is money” creating even more of a pinch upon ourselves. We have developed the technology where people can reach us anywhere instantly.  Well, at least anywhere there’s a cell phone or Internet service.   Which brings us to the subject of interruptions!   We can not only be reached anywhere, we can be interrupted anywhere!   Now that is a relatively recent thing.   Because of this, some restaurants ask their customers to turn off their cell phones when they enter, but… some of us need to leave them on for possible “emergencies”! 

Telemarketers have become such a big problem in our lives that more than 735,000 phone numbers were registered by a frustrated public, on the first day of the new national do-not-call list last month. 

Things are so bad that many of us can’t even seem to get away on vacations, at least not without a lot of difficulty and inconvenience, due to time crunches.  A minister was waiting in line to have his car filled with gas just before a long holiday weekend.  The attendant (they had them there) was working quickly, but there were just a lot of cars ahead of him at the station.  Finally, the attendant motioned him toward a vacant pump.  “Reverend,” said the young man, “sorry about the delay.  It seems as if everyone waits until the last minute to get ready for a long trip.”  The minister chuckled, “I know what you mean.  It’s the same in my business.”

Have you heard that we’re even interrupting outer space?   I just read where the most massive radio waves of all time were beamed into the atmosphere last weekend, in an attempt to give a friendly “Hello! Are you there?” from our planet.  The scientists figure if there is life out there, it will take 2 to 5 years for an answer to return.   Can you imagine someone’s coffee being interrupted with a message from another solar system? 

What have we created? We think we’re in the modern world.  But time is beyond our control and interruptions are a part of life, whether planned or unplanned!

Yet in the scriptures you heard today, Jesus tells the apostles, after they have had an extremely busy time, to come away to a deserted place and rest!   So many people had been coming and going that they hadn’t even had time to eat!

Apparently a boat was the only way they could separate themselves, the only way to keep the crowds from clamoring around them. So they all got on the boat and went to a deserted spot.

But wait—what happens next?  People see them leaving and recognize them.  Those people follow them on foot and get to the “place of rest” before them, like groupies following a rock star.  It’s kind of like the traffic jam in downtown Prescott after the Frontier Days parade, too.  It’s faster and easier to travel by foot!

A “great crowd,” we’re told, is there waiting for them.  So what does Jesus do?  Does he try to ignore the crowd?  Does he brush them aside and say “leave us alone”?  Does he get frustrated and jump back into the boat and take off, with “lake rage” (that’s the biblical version of road rage)?   Do you think he says, “Not my job,” or “I’m off-duty” or even “Sorry, I’m too tired…”  No!  He does none of these!  Instead… he has great compassion for them, for they do not seem to know what to do.  They are floundering--like “sheep without a shepherd.”  He knows that they need Him, so he begins to teach them many things.  He begins to give them coping skills.   He cares enough to give them His time, even when He is tired and hungry.  He needs so much to rest, yet He puts the people first.  Their interruption becomes Jesus’ priority.  He gives them love in that moment.

I’m reminded of an experience that about half a dozen of us from this church had a few years ago.   We decided to travel to a Women of Faith conference in Las Vegas—a group of all women, of course.   One member had offered her vehicle for the trip, so she borrowed her husband’s brand new mini-van and we took off.   About half way between Seligman and Kingman, we had a flat tire while traveling at top speed on the interstate.   Our driver managed to safely pull the van off the road where there happened to be a nice wide flat and cleared area.   We hadn’t even opened the door to get out before another van pulled off and stopped immediately behind us.  

The van that stopped for us was old, a somewhat banged up, utility type vehicle, just not in very good shape.  It looked like it could even be something the single, no-longer-young man who got out lived in at times.  He wasn’t dressed very well, so we couldn’t be sure he hadn’t slept in the clothes he had on—or that they weren’t the only ones he had.  Yet he was all alone, as the 6 of us women piled out.  I couldn’t help wonder what made him stop because our windows were all so darkly tinted he could not have known what might be inside.  The man just went to work fixing the tire, working hard for us in the middle of this warm day in the bright sunlight.  He struggled with the job for a long time before he finished.  It had to be a major interruption in his trip. We guiltily finally realized he’d needed a special tool that we hadn’t known about and had not yet discovered, so it all took much longer than it should have.  Yet the man never had a word of complaint or frustration!   He just completed the job like maybe it had been expected of him. 

While he was working, one of our group noticed a Bible on top of his dashboard, behind his windshield.  I looked at the rear of his van with its Mississippi plate, and saw a back windshield decal that had an angel praying at the foot of the cross.  We then noticed a scripture tract protruding out of his rear pants pocket, as he leaned over.   About this time, he finished up and it got really mysterious.  As we insisted he accept a small collection we gathered from our group, we casually asked him what brought him to this area.  He gave only a name that none of us had ever heard… and added that he would follow us until we reached Kingman on our mini-spare.   We later learned the name he gave was of a once popular evangelist who had died decades ago!  

How gracious of this man to make our inconvenience and interruption his.   How much like an apostle he was… and we were not unchanged in the experience.  Yet isn’t this what Jesus did?  He purposely interrupted his life to help others, even when He was tired.

Jesus didn’t stop with the first boat landing.  They crossed the boat over to still another spot, Gennesaret, and moored it.    The people there recognized him, too, and they traveled all over the whole region to bring the sick to him, following Him wherever he went.   And he did go everywhere—villages, cities, farms—and they were happy to just even touch the fringe of his cloak, because all who touched it were healed!

Jesus knows the best ministry can happen when his apostles—“those who are sent”--are nourished and refreshed.  Yet Jesus allowed himself to be interrupted by anyone in need of healing or teaching, without fuss and without irritation.  Jesus was running an ongoing street clinic and his love was always there for anyone!

By healing, Jesus knew they would be made whole, yet through His teaching, He gave them the tools to stay whole that they might in turn heal others that they might become whole—with Jesus as their leader and guide.  

Jesus seized each moment as an opportunity.  Every interruption became a divine occurrence on that journey toward wholeness.  Every moment became a message of God’s great love for each of us and the whole world, for we are in God’s constant embrace.

A few years back, I experienced the biggest interruption to my life I could possibly imagine as we suddenly and tragically lost a dear family member.  But one of the things that happened to go along with that was I found myself staying as close as I possibly could to that God who is the source of my being.   I drew close to God for both comfort and care, for guidance and renewed understanding, for the love that I needed so urgently.  God held me tightly, and I believe I was more open and listening better in every moment than I had ever been before.  

There were three successive Saturday mornings where I received messages that I believe were truly divine occurrences.  On that first Saturday came the thought that this earth is not our home.   The next, that heaven is our true home.   The third and probably most important for today:  We are all missionaries on this earth!   A missionary is prepared to “Seize the Moment”—seize EVERY moment—of every day, for the opportunity it might present to live our lives as Jesus did in this scripture in Mark.  We must seize it for the sacred grace that each moment is, saying “Yes, Lord,” to every interruption and frustrating incident because we, as people of God, have been assured that God’s deep and eternal love is present with us always.   Knowing, too, that there is a world in need, we are the ones to live that great message in every moment wherever we may be.   We are to seize the moment for the blessed opportunity to be loved and to pass on that love!

Now, as you leave today, draw close to the God that is with us in every moment, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Touch the fringe of His cloak, be renewed and be healed.   Pass on the love that endures forever.  To God be the glory!