Today, as I write this message, I do so with gratitude to God that we were spared the direct fury of the first major hurricane of this season. Apart from being the first hurricane of its strength in June, it also grew from a tropical depression to a full-blown hurricane in less than two days. Another first for Beryl is that it is the earliest storm ever recorded in the Atlantic to reach a category 4, and then 5, with devastating and destructive results.

Do you set aside a 24-hour period each week in which you stop your work and rest? “Sabbath is a time to rest, reflect, and renew our spirits.” 1 When we hear about the Sabbath, however, we often immediately think about the Seventh Day Adventists and the seventh day. Jesus, however, insisted that the Sabbath is for all humanity, which He clearly states in Mark 2:27, which reads, “Then he said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for humankind and not humankind for the Sabbath,’” (NRSV).