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Take - I Make People Snore
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Take – I Make People Snore
Ex 33:14
My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest. NASU
With a title like that you are probably wondering why you should read any further. Have you ever noticed that when people are exhausted, they tend to snore? I’ve noticed that people who travel with me on these journeys tend to snore, even though they’ve never snored before.
The Bible promises repeatedly that if we take God’s yoke, He will give us rest. Perhaps the reason He mentions it so many times is that when we are following the will of God, we usually find ourselves working harder than we’ve ever worked before. While the rest God is talking about may or may not be our idea of rest, it is always more fulfilling than anything we could plan on our own. That doesn’t necessarily mean our physical bodies won’t be tired.
No matter how I describe what I do on these missionary journeys, people somehow get them mixed up with vacations. Possibly, it is because the pictures posted in the photo gallery look like vacation pictures. After all, I’m dressed casually and go to beautiful places. I hear words like, “I’ve always wanted to do that.” What most people mean is that they have always wanted to see America. They probably don’t mean they want to do it the way I do it.
I start these trips tired. Getting ready for these journeys is a lot of work. Bob and I work side by side for days to get packed and ready. By the time I pull out of the driveway, we are both exhausted. Usually, he prays with me, gives me a hug and kiss, and promptly goes back to bed. My work has only just begun.
On this trip, Bob traveled with me for the first week. We were constantly driving, talking with people, and I kept us up late every night working. We hooked and unhooked the camper every day and because Halleluiah is so small, before we can sleep, we have to move heavy stuff from the back to the front seats. We constantly bumped into each other or into Halleluiah. Leaving a cabinet open is taking your life into your own hands. We stay bruised and scraped up and covered with bug bites. We usually shower with some kind of critter and it is rare that the showers are clean.
While I seldom look at or set a clock, I can’t usually sleep past about 7:30 AM. I wake up with my mission on my mind and anxious to get moving. For that first week, Bob would just groan and say something like, “What time did we go to bed?” By the third night of the trip, he was snoring.
While we were driving, I told Bob all about the scripture God gave me for the journey. “Bob, it’s Luke 11:28-30,” I said excitedly. “I’m going to be writing about coming to Jesus, taking His yoke, and learning. You know the scripture. It’s the one where God promises to give us rest.”
“When exactly do I get some?” he asked wryly. I laughed.
Bill began traveling with me the second week. The first night, at around 11:00 PM, he climbed into bed. “Are you about done?” he asked.
“Not even close,” I told him. “Go on to sleep.” He glared. Our beds are 2 feet apart. The table that separates us was the one where I was working. To go to sleep meant doing it with lights on and keys clicking. It also meant sleeping through my final call to Bob where I told him the stories were ready for editing.
Bill took two pillows. He put one under his head and the other over it. For the two hours I continued to work, he tossed and turned. When I finally started getting ready for bed he said, “What time is it?”
I get asked that question a lot. I told him it was 1:00 in the morning. He muttered something indistinguishable (or perhaps I didn’t want to know what it was), pulled the pillow over his head again and turned over.
When I got up the next morning, he once again asked, “What time is it?”
I’m not sure why people are so obsessed with time. Knowing he wasn’t going to like the answer I said, “Bill, it’s 7:00 AM.”
“Don’t you ever sleep?” he asked.
“At home,” I said cheerfully. “I need 8 hours. On these trips, I don’t sleep much.” He groaned and tried to sleep through my making breakfast. Finally, he gave up, got up, and stomped off with his journal, and devotional materials. I could only guess what went in that journal.
When he returned, he was in a great mood. “I got what I needed,” he said cheerfully. Bill is currently using Oswald Chamber’s My Utmost For His Highest for his early morning time. I whispered a prayer of thanks. We swept and mopped the camper, combed it for dog hair, moved all the stuff from the front to the back seat, washed dishes, opened the curtains, unhooked Halleluiah, and began the second day of Bill’s trip.
The next night, he didn’t say a word as he climbed in bed. He woke up a couple of times while I was working and never complained. He did ask what time it was when I finally turned off the lights. I noticed when I woke up the next morning; he slept until I woke him up. By day three, he was falling asleep right away, no matter what I was doing and sleeping until I woke him. Exhaustion has its rewards.
A week into the trip, we were talking and I told him about my theme scripture for the trip. Once again I used the familiar line of, “and I will give you rest,” as a reference to remind him of the scripture.
“Aunt Cheryle,” he said incredulously. “That is a terrible scripture for these trips. We don’t get any rest.”
I went to laughing. “You had no idea how much work you were getting into when you agreed to come.”
“Not at all,” he said.
“When we take the yoke of God, I think God is talking about a different kind of rest. When He calls me to do this, He gives me the stamina to fulfill the call. I could never do this on my own. When I get back home, it usually takes a month for me to recover.”
That night, Bill, who has never snored once in all the nights we’ve shared sleeping quarters, snored.
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