Of Jesus and vacation

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My wife and I both love travelling very much.  I love the excitement of getting up early, getting to the airport, having a coffee and flying off to some place I've never seen before.  There's something enticing about the unknown and the possible beauty we might experience there.  I love it.

Then I started wondering whether Jesus ever went on vacations.  I know He travelled a lot, but that was for His ministry (His church job, I suppose, in modern terms).  Did He ever take two weeks off and visit the Pyramids, or went to the beach?  I can't remember reading anything along those lines in the Bible.  I do know that He took time to spend with His Father (God) alone, away from the disciples and the multitudes.  What does this mean for us today?  Two things jump to mind.

Firstly I believe that Jesus found what He was doing, His work here on earth, so exciting and exhilarating that He didn't feel the need to take two weeks off from "work."  He loved what He was doing and who He was doing it for to the extreme.  My dad once said that if you love what you're doing, you won't need to take holidays.  I think this rings true for each of us.  Jesus did what He was made to do.  Are you?

Secondly I think that the driving force behind Jesus' ministry came from spending lots of time with His Father.  Alone.  Quietly.  Away from it all.  He was rooted in what the Father was all about:  relationship and love.  He knew the Father intimately.  This gave Him great power, wisdom, love and courage to do what He was called to do.  Jesus was strengthened and refreshed by regularly spending alone-time with the Father.  Are you?

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