A Chance. To Rest.

First of all, I would like to thank all those who have shown their support to Jacqueline and I’s Birthday for a Cause. I would especially like to thank those who have given a donation. As it stands now, we are at $999 and our goal is $1000, with four days left. That is HUGE - we practically reached our goal! We are beyond thankful, but yet, we're not quite done. The fight is not quite over.

For these past three days, the thought of being able to peacefully rest at night and the privilege it is has been gnawing at my conscience. It is beautiful, isn’t it? To lie down and be content - to rest in peace. I don’t always wake up feeling very refreshed, but I know I have the freedom to lie down at will and be satisfied with my work day. Now, over these three days of raising awareness for One Day’s Wages Human Trafficking Fund as my mind contemplates in a greater manner the plight of so many millions of people, it has dawned on me that - like I said earlier - the ability to peacefully rest at night is a privilege. A gift, really.

Because there are plenty of people who are unable to enjoy this privilege. And there are some who are in oppression and have been robbed of their opportunity to have this privilege. Due to the diabolical behavior of other humans, there is a child, a woman, and a man somewhere right now who is approaching the night with a sense of anxiety, desperation, and restlessness. They have no peace. For some of them, their exploitation begins at night.

No rest. No opportunity to rest.

As a Seventh-Day Adventist Christian who not only enjoys peace and rest in the nights, but also one whole day to enjoy shalom (peace) and shabbat (ceasing) with friends, family, and the Lord, my heart is especially broken to think of someone not having this gift.

They have no chance at rest in the nights, much less a chance to spend a day with loved ones and the Lord. Thus, as some of you give your one day’s wages (and more) to this Birthday Cause for the Human Trafficking Fund, I know you are being gospel workers. Because sometimes, God wants more than your prayers. Your finances are working out liberation and an opportunity for individuals to enter into rest both at night and for eternity.

At this point, as I mentioned earlier, we are practically there, and it has been in large part to sizable donations. Thanks to you, our friends. But if you are able to donate even $10 or $20, please do not be shy. Your $10 is better than your wishfulness. And many $10s are better than no $100s. (If that makes sense). In the very least, consider sharing our video, or our ODW profile, or this blog post to your social network. Perhaps someone you know will want to help.

So please, Jacqueline and I appeal to you help the captives. When we freely give to gospel work, God supplies. (Philippians 4:16-19) Moreover, as we enter into our Sabbath rest this weekend, can we really sit still and offer our praises while ignoring a multitude of God’s children who may never taste of nightly rest, Sabbath rest, and the “better rest” which awaits us?

Our goal for this project was $1,000.

We're at $999.

Consider it.

Not just giving your dollar to merely reach this goal.

But perhaps more.

Because in reality, should there ever be a limit to help save a life?

Limits

What are they like?

How would they look like? 

Would they be something like fences or lines drawn in a box?

Perhaps it's something like a late Sunday morning, or may be an incoming schedule. 

Some might think they are like the burn out or the man in his mid life crisis. The mother of three with bags under her eyes. The student driven to their last drop of energy as Finals approach. The young woman reading until 5 in the morning to finish homework. The director of an organization partaking of late nights. A cry on a cross.

Or may be they look more like a week. Perhaps limits bear a resemblance to the waning minutes of the sixth day, and the soon beginning of a seventh day.

The faith of my girlfriend

My girlfriend makes me happy often. She does this through various means communicated at various times. One of the ways is the admiration created in me as I have gotten to know, to understand, and to explore another mind.

A mind similar to mine, yet so different, shaped by different circumstances and from different genetics. It's exhilarating to think I have the privilege to specially commune with another person with a mind of their own. When they think, their voice sounds in their head. How strange.

As I have gotten to know her, one of the ways she's made me happy is by observing the way she lives out her faith. Now, forgive me for being so cliche and so religious and so sentimental, but there is a beauty I see and an appreciation I have developed as I begin to understand why she worships this way, why that moment in her life is an altar, where her Ebenezers lie, how she traces the hand of God in her present life, how she studies the Scriptures, and the manner in which she wrestles with the Spirit. Hearing her pray.

The truth is that it is impossible for me to know about the faith of everyone in this manner, but to have one person where such an opportunity is present is much more than enough.

So she makes me happy. And as the type of Seventh-day Adventist who loves to take a spiritual beating or as my good friend Matt Minikus would call it, get slain, I have a deep appreciation for Jacqueline Burciaga as I hear her testify of what she believes about God and how He acts in her life.

It challenges me to plead for discernment, for eyes to see the spiritual dimension surrounding the armies of the Assyrians, for I know I am blind. See, I am the kind of person, the kind of Christian who would like to be thought of as having an 'Intellectual Faith.' (Whatever that means) Yet, as I fellowship with Jacqueline and with other loved ones, I begin to wonder if this supposed intelligent faith label gives me too much license to doubt the plain teachings of Scripture. Let's be honest, the Bible doesn't demand stupidity from its followers, but it does communicate that a more appropriate posture in life is one of a child with wide eyes and open hands willing to be taught by the Everlasting Father.

So I observe her and I watch her and I respect her and she shares so much to me that challenges which causes me to consider whether I am allowing a blindness to set in; because at some point, may be I am not being intellectual at all, once again whatever that means, but simply being a hardhearted unbeliever who needs Jesus to heal the blindness, and so I am delighted in the courage of Jacqueline to stand beside her Seventh-day Adventism while working her 8-3pm job in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip malls and hotels.

As I enter this Sabbath, I thank God for the faith of my girlfriend for it blesses me, I confess I am blind and my eyes don't see everything, and I cry out, "Son of David, don't pass me by."

So He makes me happy for He has communicated to me in various ways at various points in my life and the faith of my girlfriend is one of them. And that I can see quite well.

Sabbath

On this day of the week, I hear so many say 'Happy Sabbath.'

I myself say it a lot. At Friday sundown, on Sabbath morning, at potluck time. I say it with a smile and a handshake. Perhaps I tweet or Facebook something about it. Or upload an Instagram photo and hashtag happy sabbath.

But I had a thought last week, just a very simple thought. Am I living these days as if it were truly a happy sabbath? Is my behavior in harmony with what I wish and speak to my church community?

Happy is simple. It reminds me of Matthew 5. It reminds me of the beatitudes and the joy that is found in abiding in the Lord according to John 15. Happy is the man who abides, obeys, and trusts the Lord.

So my question for the happy in 'happy Sabbath' is did my week fall in harmony with the Lord? Did I abide, obey, trust? Did my week agree with the beatitudes? Did my week agree with what the Scriptures say brings happiness to man? If so, then I can be sure that my Sabbath will have the happy element.

The Sabbath part is not complicated either. Let me just share this break down of the old Hebrew word.

We could go in all sorts of different direction with the Sabbath portion, but let's keep it simple and allow the Spirit to guide.

On the day of ceasing and desisting and resting and stopping, I have to ask myself if I really am stopping. When I say 'Happy Sabbath,' am I behaving in a way that says: whatever my secular pursuits are, whatever my normal train of thinking is, whatever stress and anxiety about the future, whatever things that might impede my ability to fully rest, fully cease, and allow the time to be spent in worshipping God, I will desist from such thoughts and activities and feelings.

Is that the sabbath I am experiencing when I say 'Happy Sabbath?'

So that was my thought. A simple thought. Rather than just say happy Sabbath, do happy Sabbath.

These are the summarized portions: Was my week spent abiding in the Lord so that happiness is reaped as a fruit to be tasted on this seventh-day? Am I allowing myself to taste the fruit of worship by ceasing and desisting and resting and stopping whatever might cripple my ability to reach out and grab the fruit?

If yes to both, then happy Sabbath indeed, my brother and sister.