time to stop

This Wednesday I have my first grand rounds presentation in which I research a topic and present the findings. On paper this sounded pretty straight forwards, but when you start looking up a topic you find that there is an enormous amount of data that you need to wade through including similar studies with opposite results.
After trying to ingest all of the information you then need to condense and transfer it onto power point slides so that your audience can understand all of your work in 45 minutes or so while trying not to bore them while knowing that you are going to be asked questions at the end by people who have been working longer than you are going to be alive.
At this point my slides are done...or are they? I find myself constantly tweaking, changing, and adjusting my slides to make sure that they are "perfect."
At some point you just have to say that your slides are done and call it a day.
Which makes me think of the Christian practice of keeping a Sabbath. A day of rest. A day where you can set apart your business and relax (such as blogging).
Obviously God felt that this was important as it is one of the 10 Commandments.
Random side note, I received an email of the texted 10 Commandments:

1. no1 b4 me. srsly.
2. dnt wrshp pix/idols
3. no omg’s
4. no wrk on w/end (sat 4 now; sun l8r)
5. pos ok – ur m&d r cool
6. dnt kill ppl
7. :-X only w/ m8
8. dnt steal
9. dnt lie re: bf
10. dnt ogle ur bf’s m8. or ox. or dnkey. myob.

Jesus also debated the Pharisees who had missed the boat when they started making rules on how to properly keep the Sabbath day of rest thus totally defeating the whole purpose. Even today we struggle with keeping up with the Joneses as we are all plugged into each other with constant communication as most of us really never leave work at work as I find myself wanting to check my email the first thing in the morning.
So perhaps the ability to take a day off is to have the faith that we have worked for 6 days and trust God's command to take the 7th off as we find our ultimate satisfaction in Him and His laws, not in the next step at our job.
Perhaps we can be like Eric Liddell from the Chariots of Fire movie who did not have to prove his existence on the track by honoring the Sabbath day unlike the other track runner (Harold Abrahams) who said of the 100 meter dash: "I will raise my eyes and look down that corridor; 4 feet wide, with 10 lonely seconds to justify my whole existence."
So enjoy the better things in life by resting in the Lord's provision on your Sabbath day.

time

It seems like every stage in my life since middle school I always felt like I never had enough time to do whatever I felt was important. Frequent comments and reactions that I had were something to the fact that "one day I would like to..." or "I am just so busy right now that I can't..." In some sort of delusional state I figured that "tomorrow" things will get less busy.
But now that I am a dad I am amazed at how much time I actually did have all of those years as the "simple" act of going out to eat is now a 14-step process (which is all worth it when Titus gives you one of his smiles that makes you feel like there is nothing wrong in the world.)But still, I am learning that I will never reach this "magical time" in which I will have an abundance of free time until I am old enough that I can't remember what I am doing anyways. So where does this leave me?
Priorities.
Simple enough, my priorities.What I really want to do or have to do I find time for. Obviously work takes a majority of my time, but what about God time? I say that Jesus is my number one priority, but if someone had a listing of my daily activities or my credit card statement could they tell He is my all in all?
Obviously faith plays a large role that I realize that God is truly in control and that I am not the captain of my ship I will have the peace to put my work down and rest in His promises, but also is He enough? Is He my greatest joy? Do I feel fulfilled in His Word and in prayer? If the answer is yes wouldn't it follow that I would not feel pushed for time to spend with Jesus and when life does get busy the obvious answer is to cut other things out of my life? Makes sense on paper (or on a blog), but in real life I guess I so easily become blinded and drift away until He does something to bring me back that usually hurts.
All of the sudden the patter of the Bible of judgment and mercy starts to ring true as I read how God works with His people with judgment followed by mercy. Our holy and righteous God sends judgment on sinful people. But God is also merciful, patient, and compassionate and thus rescues the sinful people from his judgment.
Over and over and over and over again. Just read the OT and you will soon see the pattern.
The humbling part is when you look back on your own life and realize the same pattern, which leads me to a deeper understand of His love.
PS: Check out this kid.