Day 2

Did you know....that Sabbath-keeping was how God commanded the Israelites to set themselves apart from the world?

Rory and I are full-blown into our own company (Stark Contrast Property Management). I hesitate to even say it, but we are so excited. There is a certain adrenaline running through our home right now. And we thank God for it because we have an amazing amount of work to do. Laying in bed last night I said aloud, "I can't believe it's only Monday." Rory practically screamed. Between Sunday and Monday I think I have done about a week's worth of work. It's crazy. But it's so fun.

Reading in Exodus this morning about Moses' face-to-face encounters with God I was so inspired. Moses clearly loves God. He loves spending time with Him, doesn't think about eating when he's with Him, debates issues with Him without anyone getting offending and after he leaves Him, his face literally glows--for days. Moses has to hide this glow from the people under a veil--it's one of those kinds of love the rest of the world just can't understand.

And Moses relays a few critical things to me that I read in Exodus today:

1. The Holy Spirit imparts skill. Craftsmen were filled with the Holy Spirit in wisdom AND in skill. This resonates with me as I often see craftwork (especially the arts, but also even construction) as such a creative, left-brained activity. I spoke with a crazy man once who I think Jesus appointed to converse with me and he told me a lot of random things. One of which is that our intuition is the Holy Spirit. And fear comes when we let our training take over our intuition. This does not mean to just whimsically follow our heart. But if you understand, you understand. He also talked a lot about the left brain.

2. The Sabbath is not just a day of rest. I had wrestled with Sabbath-keeping for most of my life. When Sunday rolls around, I am not tired. I always kind of thought that maybe I had a special exemption--not tired, no need for day of rest. But reading God's heart about the Sabbath it's much deeper than a day of rest. It's a day of saying, I won't control my work. I give control of my work to You. And this is how we are to know who knows God and who does not. Which of us are in control of our work? Because God is very clear that this Sabbath-keeping is for harvest and planting. Do you know how risky it is to just stop planting? If you aren't trusting God, it is very risky indeed. We're talking not being able to eat. But in this most especially, we are stop every 6 days, 6 years and rest. We are also supposed to party, but that's another story.

So as we begin this trek of running/owning/creating a business, I pray that we will offer it up completely to the Lord. Even on days when I am not tired. Because it's not our business. No, there's a Stark Contrast between us and the world and this business, well, this business is His.