Road trips are a blast. Or at least, they’re supposed to be. Not sure if they were for my parents who hauled seven antsy kids in the old station wagon for the eight or so hour trip up north to Michigan every summer. Perhaps the greatest annoyance to my parents was the way that every few miles we’d ask, “Are we there yet?” We were supposed to enjoy the journey, but for us in our rush to get to the destination, we couldn’t enjoy it at all.
Enter the Rest Stop. Yes, it was the place for all of us squirming kids to empty our bladders. But perhaps more importantly it was the time for Mom and Dad to take a break, stretch their legs, and just relax for a few moments. They knew it would be brief, but the peace they felt during those tiny breaks at the Rest Stop was priceless. Worth every penny they dumped into the vending machines to try to pacify us kids for the next leg of the trip.
Rest stops are important. They allow us to catch our breath, get rid of stuff we don’t need (remember those tiny bladders?) and be refreshed by getting off the busy highway and enjoying a cool drink before heading back out.
If Lent is a journey toward Easter (and it is), then how many of us can honestly say we haven’t asked God, “are we there yet?” a time or two? Lent is a penitential season of self-examination and often self-sacrifice, and it can seem like a long slog toward the eventual joy of Easter. We want to get to our goal, the excitement of Jesus’ resurrection, but getting there takes soooooo long. And along the way, we get impatient and tired. Our busy lives just don’t seem to leave room for a stop along the way.
But that’s why we offer the Midweek Rest Stop every Wednesday evening in Lent. We will meet in Fellowship Hall at 5:30 to enjoy refreshment in the form of delicious, home-cooked soup and
warm fellowship. At 6:30 we will remain in FH for a time of peaceful reflection, a sort of “get away from it all” where we hope you will find release from everything that is a roadblock on your journey. And then at 7:00 we will enter into an exploration of Peter, the flawed but faithful disciple whose road trip with Jesus was three years’ worth of bickering siblings, impatient disciples and amazing sights to experience along the way. Come join us for this journey and enjoy the Rest Stop along the route.
