The created rhythms

As you can tell by reading this blog, these posts are being written by some men who really struggle to put into practice the ideas of Sabbath in their lives.  However, as we write these blogs and journey together through implementing Sabbath into our individual settings and lives, there are some amazing revelations being discovered.  We have learned lessons from our pasts, presents, and we look to the future and how those lessons will impact our future.
I (Eli) fall into the same boat of not being good at Sabbath, and I'm not getting any better at it. In fact, it may be getting worse. I could blame it on life situations (my wife is pregnant with twins and we are selling our house in order to begin construction on a new home). I could blame it on my job(s), whether it be college ministry, adjunct professoring, or announcing softball games. All of those things would be exactly what they are, excuses. They would not be me taking a real inventory of my life and taking the blame/credit for my lack of sabbath practices in mine and my family's life. So, here I am taking inventory of my life for all the world to see and committing to Sabbath practice.
My commitment to Sabbath keeping comes from a recent trip I took to the rain forests of Panama. It was a mission trip to the remotest place I have ever been on earth. The village we stayed in didn't have internet, cell phone coverage, air conditioning, or hot water and they only had electricity for 3 hours per night (if they had diesel fuel and an operational generator). I began to notice some created rhythms that drive life in this village. It was the same rhythms that our ancestors kept before artificial light flooded our homes and streets. Instead of rising with the sun and the rooster crowing, we now rise when our alarms beckon us from their post on our artificially darkened night stands. The flip-side of that is that we no longer go to sleep when the sun goes down, rather we pump in artificial light to keep us up at all hours of the night.
Perhaps, God created these rhythms for our benefit. Perhaps, He knew that we couldn't survive on artificially shortened sleep cycles. Perhaps, God created rhythms of life, and Sabbath is one of those rhythms.
Here is my Sabbath commitment. I commit to keep Sabbath and remain present with my family and my faith for 2-4 hours each Sunday. I will do my best to keep this Sabbath time and share you how I succeed and fail in my journey. My prayer is that God will continue to reveal to my His created rhythms for my life.