OH, OUR WORLD CHANGED!!!--- 45-ish YEAR AGO

One of the things that has been dropped on me very recently, while reading the Bible, was the Sabbath event.  It's "event" was to NOT work, NOT play [much], NOT have shops, bars, stores, restaurants, NOT school events.  Nothing on Sunday except church.  Most of the time, except for movies that had opened a number of years earlier, almost nothing was available, around and about.  Not even many buses were working out, and many, many, MANY people didn't have cars then, so people couldn't get anywhere, even if they wanted to.  Personally,  I lived on buses in those years... or was walking whenever and wherever.

When I had come to the Lord ... April 15, 1966 ...  I had known many things, but, not having hung out in a church, I didn't know what was done then on a regular basis.  A couple years later some of their bits and pieces changed.

One of the hugest blessings I had as a kid... from 7 in 2nd grade to 17 [when I graduated and left home]... was that I usually didn't have to babysit my sisters on Sunday.  I often was watching them on Friday evening -- often until about 2:30 on Saturday morning, since the bars closed about 2:00 -- and on Saturday, off and on all day until 12:30 AM on Sunday, because the bar closed at midnight.  On Sunday, I could rest, play, go to a movie [sometimes cost 10-25 cents in those years], and, sometimes, had a nice time with my family. 


The shops weren't usually in place.  We could get some pops, etc., from a small place.  No grocery store opened.  And no such thing as a mall in those years, so far as I know.

Sometimes after I was in my early 20s this began to change.

YES, life truly changed.

With so many people begin forced to work on Sunday/Sabbath day, there's nothing the same as it used to be.  Some adults can't go to church, because of jobs.  Some kids can't go to church, because their school sports and other issues have them on early Sunday, and they have to be at school.  Some churches have Saturday night services, partly because it's the only time some people can come.  

In the past 40 years it has become so practical and so obvious that most people don't even know when or how it changed.  And, when a company refuses to open on Sunday, such as Hobby Lobby, many become angry, think they're crazy.  

I've TRIED to focus on Sunday/Sabbath, and keep from doing anything significant during that day.  Focusing on the Lord and resting and being with friends and sharing the glory of the Lord.  However, just like others, I get so easily sidetracked.  I'm embarrassed about this.  AND, because I am sometimes not doing well on Sunday, I think I can choose a day and focus on the Lord for a different one.  Well, just as with everything else, I screw up.  I get so easily, sidely re-focusing on whatever is on my plate.

Historically, missionaries moving around the U.S., east to west, back in the early to mid 1800s, refused to travel on the Sunday.  One couple, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, for instance, was even in Omaha-area at their portion to end up in eastern Washington state.  I read that they were just one of the many who refused to move during the day.  The wagon leaders, in a rush, sometimes kept moving along, and those who refused to go off on Sunday had to wait for another.  It was a real challenge.

The challenge continues.  Full-filled nearly every day forever and ever.  It's another reason I'm truly looking forward to heaven. 

The intensity in our world has increased significantly, and and it won't go away, because now it's spreading around and about nearly constantly.

Anyhow, couldn't not share this after it was poured on me this past few days.  AND when am I going to spend a Sabbath day soon?  Not enough all of next Sunday, after several hours with 3 different churches.  But on this next Monday, I'll be driving 550 miles up to northern Minnesota, and I will have about 9 hours and I can listen to worship music all that time and rejoice in and for the Lord.  Other than getting gas a couple times and grabbing a lunch on the way, I won't be NOT focusing on the Lord.  And when I reach the house of my dear friend/"sister"-- friends for 54 years--, we will be rejoicing over the Lord together.  So, it will be a spiritually focusing-on-the-Lord day.

And friend, Linda, was with in school in Washington state with us and she came to see Susie and I in our part of the country last year.        What a treat!

I hope all of us can keep the Lord on our Word, or heart, our focus... moment-by-moment, day-after-day, forever and ever.

Amen!