What a picture of grace: a man who ordered his whole week around the Sabbath walking into that gym because his son mattered more. As a pastor myself, I needed your line about stepping down from a church role before you neglect your kids. My dad shaped me in quiet ways too, and it's amazing how one moment can set the course of a whole life.
Your article about your relationship with your father and your children has helped me to understand the pain in my heart that has actually immobilized me. I simply cannot move forward in my life without finding a way to reunite with my son and his family. Your father gave you permission to manage your own life and then he broke ranks with his convictions out of love for you. My son is a police officer in LA. I honestly don’t know what more I can do to connect with them when they have shown me in no uncertain terms that they want nothing to do with me and I don’t know what I have done wrong or what to do if I have to correct the problem. For 77 years I have lived by the rule to never give up, never give in and never give out but I quite literally have no more emotional energy to fuel my life and so all I can do is pray. I have no friends for support, no family for support and the church support is not there either…I am new to the BMBC family. I ask for your prayers. I was thinking if I just showed up at my son’s house in CA, perhaps we could find a resolution but because I really don’t know all the details of the problem and no one is willing to share with me what the problem is, I can not move forward toward a resolution. I know if no one knows, God does and is able!
When I became a Sabbath keeper, I was instructed that nothing came before honoring the fourth commandment. You like, my son is into football; both started after COVID. At first, he was young enough, and his father was still supporting him. Then HS and the schedule changed; he wanted support at particular games, and I was now the only parent in his life. Yahweh entrusted me with this gift: to teach love and kindness, as well as the Word of God/Elohim. If I allowed a religious practice to deny my son love, how could I ever expect him to form a relationship with Abba and trust Him as I do? I don’t make every game, only the major ones, but more importantly, my son knows if something is truly important to him, he will have my support, no matter what day, and my Father would be pleased that I have stewarded His gift, His assignment, well.
We live in the most prosperous age in history, yet we may be the most restless people who have ever lived. We build bigger barns, stack up savings, and chase one more raise, believing security is just one more deposit away. Our accumulation is not always an appetite. Often it is an anxiety.
Into this restless world, God placed a day. For generations Christians have debated which day is right. As a Seventh-day Adventist, I believe the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord. It was set in Creation, written in the commandments, and kept by Jesus "as his custom was." The day is correct. But after four decades of ministry, I have learned a humbling truth: a correct day is not the same as a received rest.
The day does not give us rest. God is the rest. In Hebrews 4 He calls it "my rest." Jesus did not say, "Come to a day." He said, "Come unto me, and I will give you rest." The Sabbath is the meeting place, but the meeting place is not the Meeting. Worship without rest is performance. Worship with rest is trust.
I know this struggle firsthand. We Sabbath keepers can guard the sunset, press the clothes, and arrive on time, yet sit in worship with our minds already marching into Monday. We defend the Sabbath doctrinally while doubting its rest experientially. Jesus confronted the same problem in His day, when rules about rest had become a burden. His answer still stands: "The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath."
The rest God offers stands on two finished works. Creation gives us rest from worry about provision. Adam's first full day was the Sabbath, so he began in God's provision, not working toward it. In the wilderness, manna hoarded for security bred worms. Calvary gives us rest from worry about salvation. Jesus cried, "It is finished," then rested in the tomb on the Sabbath. The Creator rested after making the world. The Redeemer rested after saving it. Two finished works, one holy rest.
This is the heart of the Economy of God. The steward who trusts God's completed provision still works but no longer worries, because the Economy of God is sustained by the faithfulness of its Source, not the strength of its servants.
Whether you keep the seventh day or not, the invitation is the same: come first to the God who is the rest.
Every Sabbath God shouts, "It is finished!" Your provision is complete. Your payment is made. Your future is held. So lay down more than your tools. Lay down your fear. The seventh day is the time. God is the rest. Rest, beloved. Your Father has already done the work.
Your commitment to attending your son’s activities was of great encouragement to those of us trying to raise our children. I recall getting criticized by men who told me that I was trying to live through my sons - whatever that meant. There is something special about having your father there for you. Why would I deprive my boys of that. Why would I cheat myself out of those moments. Thanks Pastor!
What a picture of grace: a man who ordered his whole week around the Sabbath walking into that gym because his son mattered more. As a pastor myself, I needed your line about stepping down from a church role before you neglect your kids. My dad shaped me in quiet ways too, and it's amazing how one moment can set the course of a whole life.
Your article about your relationship with your father and your children has helped me to understand the pain in my heart that has actually immobilized me. I simply cannot move forward in my life without finding a way to reunite with my son and his family. Your father gave you permission to manage your own life and then he broke ranks with his convictions out of love for you. My son is a police officer in LA. I honestly don’t know what more I can do to connect with them when they have shown me in no uncertain terms that they want nothing to do with me and I don’t know what I have done wrong or what to do if I have to correct the problem. For 77 years I have lived by the rule to never give up, never give in and never give out but I quite literally have no more emotional energy to fuel my life and so all I can do is pray. I have no friends for support, no family for support and the church support is not there either…I am new to the BMBC family. I ask for your prayers. I was thinking if I just showed up at my son’s house in CA, perhaps we could find a resolution but because I really don’t know all the details of the problem and no one is willing to share with me what the problem is, I can not move forward toward a resolution. I know if no one knows, God does and is able!
Dr. Soaries,
Perhaps you remember me from BMBC in Southaven, MS: the Housing Symposium.
When I became a Sabbath keeper, I was instructed that nothing came before honoring the fourth commandment. You like, my son is into football; both started after COVID. At first, he was young enough, and his father was still supporting him. Then HS and the schedule changed; he wanted support at particular games, and I was now the only parent in his life. Yahweh entrusted me with this gift: to teach love and kindness, as well as the Word of God/Elohim. If I allowed a religious practice to deny my son love, how could I ever expect him to form a relationship with Abba and trust Him as I do? I don’t make every game, only the major ones, but more importantly, my son knows if something is truly important to him, he will have my support, no matter what day, and my Father would be pleased that I have stewarded His gift, His assignment, well.
Dr. Soaries, powerful story. Love it!
The Day Is Correct — But It's Not the Rest
By Dr. Roland J. Hill, The Theo-Economist*
We live in the most prosperous age in history, yet we may be the most restless people who have ever lived. We build bigger barns, stack up savings, and chase one more raise, believing security is just one more deposit away. Our accumulation is not always an appetite. Often it is an anxiety.
Into this restless world, God placed a day. For generations Christians have debated which day is right. As a Seventh-day Adventist, I believe the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord. It was set in Creation, written in the commandments, and kept by Jesus "as his custom was." The day is correct. But after four decades of ministry, I have learned a humbling truth: a correct day is not the same as a received rest.
The day does not give us rest. God is the rest. In Hebrews 4 He calls it "my rest." Jesus did not say, "Come to a day." He said, "Come unto me, and I will give you rest." The Sabbath is the meeting place, but the meeting place is not the Meeting. Worship without rest is performance. Worship with rest is trust.
I know this struggle firsthand. We Sabbath keepers can guard the sunset, press the clothes, and arrive on time, yet sit in worship with our minds already marching into Monday. We defend the Sabbath doctrinally while doubting its rest experientially. Jesus confronted the same problem in His day, when rules about rest had become a burden. His answer still stands: "The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath."
The rest God offers stands on two finished works. Creation gives us rest from worry about provision. Adam's first full day was the Sabbath, so he began in God's provision, not working toward it. In the wilderness, manna hoarded for security bred worms. Calvary gives us rest from worry about salvation. Jesus cried, "It is finished," then rested in the tomb on the Sabbath. The Creator rested after making the world. The Redeemer rested after saving it. Two finished works, one holy rest.
This is the heart of the Economy of God. The steward who trusts God's completed provision still works but no longer worries, because the Economy of God is sustained by the faithfulness of its Source, not the strength of its servants.
Whether you keep the seventh day or not, the invitation is the same: come first to the God who is the rest.
Every Sabbath God shouts, "It is finished!" Your provision is complete. Your payment is made. Your future is held. So lay down more than your tools. Lay down your fear. The seventh day is the time. God is the rest. Rest, beloved. Your Father has already done the work.
Buster,
Awesome story! Thanks for sharing. I remember your Father and Mother. I also remember his church in Montclair.
May they both Rest In Peace with The Ancestors.
Peace,
J. Hatim Hamer (Joey)
Your commitment to attending your son’s activities was of great encouragement to those of us trying to raise our children. I recall getting criticized by men who told me that I was trying to live through my sons - whatever that meant. There is something special about having your father there for you. Why would I deprive my boys of that. Why would I cheat myself out of those moments. Thanks Pastor!