Transformational Tuesday: To Cease or Not To Cease?

I want you to picture a firefighter sitting in the middle of his fire station, reading with tears running down his face. I'll tell you that it's not an everyday occurrence, so it's quite a sight to see... This also makes him easy prey for other firefighters and their jokes.

Heather and I are working to prepare for this year's school for our kiddos. I can tell you that it hasn't been an easy preparation, because we have come to realize that our lives do not have the margin we need in the midst of all our current obligations and distractions. Trying to prepare for something really important while stress continues to mount is not a real fun task. I will also tell you that there has been great discussion in our home about the need for change and how we can bring more peace and a healthy rhythm into our family. We have had many discussions about the pace being set around us and the tendency in our culture to continue to run, and run, and run without end. There are so many things to do, so many places to go, so much news to gather (especially from social media), etc. that it can go on and on forever. Can the life we are all hungry for be found when everything around is a blur?

One last thing that I'll point out is that Heather and I have paid close attention to many health-conscious non-Christians around the world and how many of them sometimes do a better job of realizing their need for ceasing. When we compare ourselves as Christians and the community of these folks I just mentioned, there is a stark contrast. We are watching as some non-Christians actually get the fact that they must take time to temporarily put everything aside and refocus on their lives and how they are being lived. Jesus' life was a clear example of the need to withdraw for a time to focus on God and our relationship with Him and then go from there. It has been spelled out clearly in the Bible the need for stopping and resting, but we believe that we must continue to push our lives and our gas tanks beyond what they are capable of. What happens after this is not fun to watch. Marriages disintegrate. Children's hearts are "managed" and not nurtured. Health fails and illness prevails. Addiction grows. The list goes on, but you get the drift, right?

I just finished reading a chapter in a book that we will be using for our school year called "Celebrating Biblical Feasts In Your Home or Church". The first chapter goes over God's most important holy day, the Sabbath. We know how powerful the Sabbath can be and we've seen it modeled, but when you really take the time to understand all the gifts that God placed in it, it can make a guy cry in his firehouse. When you don't take advantage of it, it's like having best present in the world sit in the corner of your house, still wrapped, decades after it was supposed to be opened and enjoyed.

We all need a day to reacquaint ourselves with our Father who loves us beyond measure and is the sole provider of all our needs. My wife needs a day to cradle Ash (while he's still little) and not be rushed or respond to screams in other parts of the house. Sy needs a day where we can work on his new Lego set like I've promised for months. Essi needs a day to be snuggled and given full attention to her random comments. Phoebe needs a day where we can appreciate the new stampwork that she put all over the sides of her bunk bed (grrrr...). I need a day to tell Heather how much I love her and couldn't live without her. We all need a day to not worry about how things are going to work out and what our next steps are. This is what Sabbath is.

I will let you do your own research on the Sabbath and the gifts in it, but all I can say is that I'm sold. My rotating schedule makes it a bit tough, but I can promise you that this week will contain a day of following the instructions as close as we can. It's not easy, but I can already see great benefits waiting for us to grab onto. There's only one catch...we have to CEASE (which is what Sabbath translates to). As much as I would like to have all these benefits while continuing to run, it just can't happen. Don't be deceived that it can. Here's a quick quote from the book mentioned above:

So much of life as we know it has become hectic and exhausting. Important meetings, exciting activities, sports events and very good causes are pulling families in a thousand different ways. People everywhere are busy being busy--never stopping to really rest. When balanced, our activities during the week become preparation time for the Sabbath, somewhat like a path leading us to the gate of a garden...It can become a time for us to rediscover places inside ourselves that are forgotten during the rest of the busy week.

We will keep you posted on how our Sabbath goes, so stay tuned. I already wish it was sundown on Thursday!

I also guess that I need to confess that that crying firefighter was me. It was worth it, though.

About the Author...

So who am I? I suddenly realized that after blogging for over two and a half years, I've never taken the time to tell who I am and what is currently on my heart.

I'm Heather!

I try to be groovy, green, and keep my heart gunk-free. I am God's beloved and strive to live as an ordinary radical on this journey of life (more on that later). I am a mother of 4 small children--Esther (7). Silas (6). Phoebe (almost 2), and Asher (4 months). Believe it or not--fertility, pregnancy, and childbirth did not come easy to me and all of my children are definitely miracles.

Sy & Essi

I used to be a public high school teacher and cross country coach back in the day... I now homeschool Essi and Sy and that tends to be a daily adventure! For those who don't know us, Sy is a special needs kid. He is allergic to all food. Seriously. He was diagnosed with Eosinophilic Esophagitis and is now ironically undergoing the Gerson Therapy in hopes to heal him.

He is in 1st grade and Essi is in 2nd grade. Phoebe is about to enter toddlerhood and Ashy has just entered "smileyhood." I cloth diaper (crazy I know; future blog post) and our home/lifestyle has to be very green for Sy's healing (and to also be good stewards of this earth). My husband, Jordan, is a firefighter and a paramedic and selflessly puts his life on the line in order to serve others.

Phoebe

Asher

This is a big year for us. In 2002, God called us into full-time missions. Obviously, this was before we had kids. I had been on staff at a church in Atlanta for a few years and just loved it. During that time, God grabbed a hold of both Jordan and my hearts and asked us to leave it all behind. We gladly obeyed, stepped out in faith, and lived out of a VW Vanagon (with two large dogs) and traveled the country to raise support. Toasty, our "home" for that year, was super groovy and we just loved her.

Toasty

We were living on mission in every sense of the word. We had raised our support in record time and then... In 2003, that chapter abruptly crashed ending in our brokenness. We knew that God had called us to the mission field--no question about it--but we later realized that He called us in order to break us. For us to come to the very end of ourselves with nowhere to turn but upward. We had given up all that we knew--lost everything if you will--but it was for heaven's gain. It was through sweet surrender that we experienced the loving, healing had of God (The Potter's Inn).

We love the verse John 10:10--"...I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." So the last 9 years have been great and we are richly blessed. We are so thankful! It's a bit shocking though that so many years have already passed us by... 4 kids later, several moves, a new career, an amazing church, supportive friends and family, and we are still in pursuit of what God wants to do with our crazy little family. We've needed the rest. We've needed the time to heal, plant roots, focus on our marriage and children, gain education, gather life experiences, etc. but that call on our lives... Those last words of Christ that continually ring in our ears... 

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20)

We try to ignore it but, almost a decade later, it's still there. As I teach it to my children, they ask, "Why aren't we doing that?" "What does that look like?" Bam! No escaping it. No beating around the bush with them. 

So as I try to stick to the topic and explain who I am, I feel like I can't appropriately do it without explaining what's been on my heart lately. This is what my husband and I talk about when we get a free moment... What we dream about... This yearning is it. So what is next for us? We're not sure. We would covet your prayers. Even as we homeschool this year, our theme is on different countries and cultures and we are ALL on our faces seeking God for his favor and direction on what lies ahead for the Hargers. It may be to stay exactly where we are but just to focus the lens of our lives a bit differently. We want to be content but not get too comfortable... Are we out making disciples? Are we going to the ends of the earth? What are we truly sacrificing for the poor? ...the widowed? ...the orphaned? Do we even interact with these people that Jesus loved so much? So this is where we are on our journey. I truly love my life but the reality is that we were called by Jesus to give it all up--everything. His call is to come and take up the cross (Luke 9:23). It is a call to radical faith, complete surrender, total abandonment, and forsaking everything. His power is made perfect in our weakness.

I don't want my life to be explainable without the Holy Spirit. I want people to look at my life and know that I couldn't be doing this by my own power. I want to live in such a way that I am desperate for [God] to come through... I don't believe that God wants me (or any of his children) to live in a way that makes sense from the world's perspective, a way I know I can "manage." I believe He is calling me--and all of us--to depend on Him for living in a way that cannot be mimicked or forged. He wants us to walk in step with His Spirit rather than depend solely on the raw talent and knowledge He's given us.  

                                                                                        -Francis Chan

Wow! It is really a call to die. It totally scares me yet awakens me to my core because I know it is truth. So please pray with us. Pray for us to be ordinary radicals for the Kingdom. Pray that those opportunities would arise so we can move forward. 

Meanwhile, how can we pray for you? Let us know!