By Pastor Jeff Wade, The Rock of Panama City Beach
As I write this today, it’s the first of August and it’s hot on the beach. It’s been kind of hot these past few days. It’s been the kind of heat that makes you want to stay inside and do as little as possible. For some reason, my family and I actually put family and church activities on the calendar this week. Not just that, but we planned these activities to be outdoors of all places. Now that they are here, I’m wondering what in the world I was thinking!! From everything to camps for kids to community service days, most of what a lot of us have been doing has been outdoors in the heat.
While I do appreciate all this abundant PCB “funshine” as I like to call it, the heat takes a huge toll on the human body. Not only am I a Pastor, but I also enjoy running. If you saw me doing it you would call it jogging, but in my own head, I like to think I am actually running. What I have experienced is that the speed and distances that I was covering back during the fall, winter, and early spring have been drastically reduced during these dog days of summer. The heat just seems to suck the life out of a human body. No matter the activity, if you stay out in the heat too long your body just simply becomes tired.
Spiritually, the same thing happens quite frequently. It’s not the sun that does it, but instead life has a way of throwing things at us that make us weary and lessens the quality of the abundant life that Jesus came to give. In our spiritual seasons, there are simply things that cause us to tire faster, lose patience quickly, and give up more easily. I suppose if we were to try and list the things that cause this, the list would be endless, but a few things come to mind that you may be experiencing. Bad relationships, resentment, people who gossip, division, traffic, Coronavirus, politics… you name it, in its right season, these things, just like the hot summer sun, sucks life out everyone, even the most seasoned believer. I can’t change the temperature, and I can’t change traffic, nor can I change many of these circumstances. And in my recognizing that, I become overwhelmingly thankful that I have the Word of God to lean on as well as a personal relationship with Jesus. All of us have access to this through the way of salvation.
Jeremiah 31:25 says, “I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.”
This is one of many verses that I lean on during times of exhaustion both physically and spiritually. God is both the maker of the sun as well as the one who gives and refreshes us in our time of need. If you find yourself tired and weary because of life, there is a savior that we can lean on. He wants to save your soul and refresh and renew your life. Just ask him. His name is Jesus.
