First Sabbath day back from our Japan trip and I felt out-of-sync.  My rhythm was broken.  My typical week starting on Sunday looks something like this:  Sunday – prepare for Service, reflect on Service, pray for continued guidance, meetings, write weekly email, finish KCF-oriented tasks.  Monday – make sure to calendar and complete all tasks before my Sabbath starts at 3:00pm.  At 3:00pm take communion and/or “start of Sabbath” ritual. E.g., partake of Mexican Coke. Tuesday – make a cup of coffee, set-up my lawn chair in the backyard and grab my “Sabbath bag” (Bible, books, fly fan, pen, pencil, index tabs), pray, read, rest, listen, repeat.  Wednesday through Friday normal workdays.  Saturday – 7:00am executive meeting for Mission Management Company, then continue a normal workday. When I left on vacation in a different time zone with a different schedule, it took a while for me to get back into this rhythm.

I really enjoyed being back home, in my backyard, spending time with God.  I missed my regular time with the LORD.  In a good way, I guess it tells me that I did change my rules of life so that I created a new life rhythm.  I’m feeling a strong leading from the LORD for us at KCF to step more boldly into the spiritual realm.  Why?  Why not!  It’s exciting to see something that I could not have imagined growing so clearly in my mind.  I’m looking forward to sharing what this means with the KCF family soon.

Without a doubt, having a specific place to commune and communicate with God is a huge blessing and makes a big difference for me.  My backyard has become THE place for me.  I miss it when I’m not there.  I wonder if that is the same for most of us?  The importance of a physical location to heighten spiritual awareness shouldn’t surprise us as it’s seen throughout the Bible. And yet, it took the practice of the Sabbath, Solitude, and now Prayer to make this very real to me.  My prayer is that you too will have a physical location where you can spend time in solitude with the LORD, if you don’t already.  Maybe it’s your kitchen table, comfy chair in the living room, or your office desk before everyone else shows up.  Whatever is your “place,” guard it and treat it with importance such that we all should have a divine appointment with Jesus at our God place.  And hey, at your place “everyone will know your name.”