Key Bible Verse: "Six days are set aside for work, but on the Sabbath day you must rest, even during the season of plowing and harvest" (Exodus 34:21). Bonus Reading: Deuteronomy 5:15

Eric Kramer and I entered the forest knowing what lay ahead: a ten-mile day with 4,500 feet to ascend. Eric was in much better shape than I was. We started off at a strenuous clip, and I followed his lead. After a while I was asking God for the strength to keep up. By the time mile 9 came, my energy was gone. My thigh muscles were twitching and cramping. I could walk only a few steps before my legs would stop moving.

I realized my pain was self-inflicted. I'd been too proud to ask Eric for a rest break. If we'd stopped for a few minutes earlier, my body wouldn't have shut down the way it did.

That experience gave new meaning to the concept of Sabbath. God hasn't designed us to always be on the go. Resting one day a week reminded the Israelites that they were no longer slaves, and that they'd made a covenant with the God who'd delivered them.

On the hike my penalty for not taking a break was merely aching legs. For life as a whole, the cost can be far more serious: shallow relations with God and others, fatigue that breaks down the immune system, and an early trip to the grave.

My Response: What's preventing me from taking a rest?

Thought to Apply: Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.-Ovid (Roman poet, 1st century BC)