I have a border collie. If you have ever had one you will know all too well what I say is true.

Charlie lives to herd things. Cats, cars, dogs, chickens, people, sheep, and anything else that moves. Charlie throws buckets in the air so they will roll and he can herd them if nothing else happens to be moving.

It matters not that it may be 100 degrees – humidity of 100%, and his tongue hanging two feet out of his mouth. He has to be moving. So sometimes, for his own well being, I have to pen Charlie up. Oh he chases his tail inside his dog-house for awhile as he attempts to herd himself, but eventually he lays down.

I am wondering how much like Charlie you and I are. I know I am guilty. I can’t or won’t stop. The really stupid thing is that I am acutally up at 4 am doing this article and getting ready for Sunday, a day of rest? Not for preachers/ nor most of the rest of you anymore.

God said we need rest; a day of it; 24 hours of it. The very thought of that seems unbearable to me. I would be like Charlie, chasing my tail. Yet, my creator who definitely knows me better than I know my dog says, “It’s time to lie down.” David said, “He makes me lie down”.

Max Lucado, in his book, Traveling Light, reminded me that God spent more time on the commandment to rest, than any of the other 9. And we still think that working all seven is a good – if not necessary – thing?

I have my work cut out for me on this one, as I suppose you do too. I need to learn to trust the Shepherd that the herding will get done even if I’m not the one doing it for a day. The world didn’t come apart when God rested for a day and it won’t if you or I do either.