However, I do not want to limit the discussion about education just to those who are currently involved in some formal academic program. I also want to speak about education as something that can and does happen away from an academic program. Education is not limited to those who are enrolled in school at one level or another. Education ought to be an ongoing activity that continues for as long as we live. I hope that all of you will embrace the idea of life long learning, and agree with me that for as long as we live we ought to be reading, and thinking, and wondering and developing. It is never too late to go back to school and enroll in a formal degree program, but a classroom is not the only place where education takes place. Just because you have graduated does not mean that your education has or should come to an end. Continue to take time to feed and challenge and nourish your head.

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The next thing I want to urge all of us to do is take time to take care of our health. We can run and rush through life, moving from one event to the next without ever allowing our bodies to rest and recover. I suppose I am preaching to myself at this point, but I am sure that I am preaching to a few others as well. We are so anxious to get ahead that we burn the candle at both ends. We are so anxious to enjoy and experience everything that life has to offer that we leave little if any time for the common sense issue of taking care of our own health.

Notice that Jesus tells his disciples that they needed to rest for a while. The pressure on all of them was relentless. Mark 6 paints a picture of men who were in perpetual motion. They were always being called upon to do something for someone else. There were the sick who wanted to be healed. There were the seekers and searchers who wanted to have their questions answered. There were the hungry who wanted to be fed. There were the sinners who wanted and needed to be saved. No sooner had they come back from one mission than the crowds were pressing in on them again. And even when they tried to get away to a quiet place, the crowds followed them there and the pressure continued. Jesus knew that they needed to rest for a while, but finding the time can seem to be so hard to do.

I am certain that there are people seated in this church today who know that something is wrong with them. They have not been feeling well for some time. They have pains that are crying out for attention. They have been told by their doctor that there are some lifestyle changes they need to make. But we tell ourselves that we are so busy that we do not have time for health-related issues right now. We tell ourselves and others that we will get around to those things later on, but quite often something tragic happens before we take action.

When I was in college there was a young man who lived in my dorm who was a phenomenal basketball player. He was in his sophomore year and was certain to play at the professional level. He was one of those athletes you watched in action and just knew that they had something special that set them apart from everybody else. It was amazing just to watch him play. However, one Saturday afternoon he told me that he was feeling some numbness and tingling in his fingers and toes. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he said that he did not have time to see the doctor that day. There was a dance on the campus that night, and he wanted to finish some school work so that he could enjoy himself later that evening.