Rest. It is important for all of us. For some of us, it is hard to do and for others, it is something they long to do. Rest comes in many forms from sleeping to just a simple pause. Rest is something we all need. If we don’t, it becomes something the we can’t avoid or control. Rest can lead to a new dawn being refreshed and ready to go again.
The life of a child is usually go go go! Our 6 year old is very much the epitome of this idea. Even when we get her up early to get a very very early start on a trip thinking she will sleep the first part, she has this ability of turning on this switch and there is no stopping her. At the same time, we stop at the end of the day to do our thankfuls and say our prayers. There have been many times when that switch gets turned off and she is out before the final Amen. On one trip, she wanted to see every state border we crossed so bad that she kept herself awake as much as she could. We were still hours away from the next border and tried to convince her to rest, but she kept herself awake the whole time. She saw the border and five minutes later, she was out.
As adults, we tend to do the same thing. Push, push, push until we are to tired to do anything. It is important to take time to rest so this doesn’t happen. The key is to know when it is time to take a rest before it is too late. This is why we have decided to have September be our time of rest. We have such a sense of urgency to get our message out that we could work during whatever time we could squeeze in and not get out what we need to in the time we want to. Although we have a lot to say, we know that we will be more effective if we don’t burn out. It isn’t that we are close to burnout, but we know the benefit of resting before it is needed. We won’t be radio silence during this month, and 
we will post a few things. It isn’t a full withdrawal, but rather a pausing and slowing down. We won’t be just “lion” around.
Truck divers, pilots, air traffic controllers, and many more professions are required to have certain amount of rest, or time off between so many hours worked. Without the breaks, accidents can and do happen. In life, poor decisions will lead to situations and consequences that we don’t want to face. It will be easier to give into temptation or ignore red flags.
Maybe you have been pushing and pushing to fit in everything you need to do and want to do. Where can you take a break and give yourself a rest before burnout happens? What area’s in your life are you burning the candle at both ends? It may be putting out a lot of light, but the wax will be gone twice as fast. We would like to encourage you to take a rest, get refreshed and then you will come back more productive, focused and energized. Here is to a new dawn after our rest and something we are looking forward to.
Rob and Jenna Crenshaw 