If the Sun Stood Still

It is hard to believe that I have been kayaking from March all the way till now in October, and the water is still not too cold, and the air is still warm. What a wonderful place I live in! There were very few other boats on the water. How strange! Such a beautiful sunny Saturday and I had the river largely to myself. I prefer it that way. I can cruise along singing worship songs out loud and no one hears me but the herons and God. It was glorious, and all the more lovely knowing the days left to do so were growing shorter. I was overflowing with the joy of it all.

It was but a brief respite. I'm still in a whirlwind of activity preparing for my NYC book signing of the Tower Builder. (link here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JXP8B72)
 I had several back and forth emails with the cover designer since we want a new cover for this event. Finally, we agreed we had it where we were happy with it. Then I had a tip from some author friends that it would be wise to have a stack of bookmarks to give out at the signing. I spent a few hours designing my bookmarks, and then ordering a batch of them. Before I knew it, the day was gone and I hadn't written at all on my new sequel. I have the ideas brimming out of my skull but no time to write!

Oh well. You can't do it all. I guess until the materials are all ready for the book signing, I have to resign myself to tackling that alone. If only we could freeze time for a spell! Do you know, that happened at least once? In Joshua 10 of the Bible, Joshua's army is battling their enemy, and he asks God to stop the sun so he would have time to finish the task. God obliges, and the sun doesn't set for an extra day. How many of us would love to have an extra day wedged in somewhere? Everyone who has lost a loved one, everyone who has an inescapable deadline approaching, everyone who needs just a little more time to convince foolish people from rushing rashly to destruction...and everyone who glides on a silvery river filled with jewels of sunshine in a solitary kayak.

But the Joshua passage is singular. We won't likely be given that extra day. Not here on Earth. But here is the amazing good news -- if we trust in Jesus as Lord, and believe He did all He claimed on our behalf-- we will have an eternity of extra days in Heaven. No more saying goodbye to loved ones, no more deadlines, no more rash decisions leading to death, and no more cessation of absolute beauty and peace.
*****

Joshua 10:13
So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar. The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. 

John 6: 50-59
⁵⁰ This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
⁵² The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” ⁵³ So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴ Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. ⁵⁵ For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶ Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. ⁵⁷ As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread^[a] the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” ⁵⁹ Jesus^[b] said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.