A SPECIAL FESTIVAL ESSAY: PUTTING IN THE LAB TIME
___________________________________________________
The days of the Hebrew calendar called Rosh Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets), Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), and Succoth (Feast of Tabernacles) have had a special place in my heart - even though I myself am not Jewish. Within the Worldwide Church of God, of which I have been a member of for about seven years, we used to place a high emphasis on the proper observance of these days - even up to the point where attendance to these services was MANDATORY. Even though changes in doctrine have now made the former policy obsolete, I still use this as a time of year where more than any other time, I am further reminded of God's grace and mercy for us through the sacrifice of His Son as well as what I feel will be the final chapter of the story that will be written about mankind's existence on earth. It reminds me that God is sovereign; that He is in ultimate control; and that He has a very far-reaching plan of salvation for all of us.
For those of you who might not have any earthly idea what I am talking about, think of it this way: what Christmas means to most people, multiply that feeling by a factor of at least 10 and you can easily see what a few special days on the Hebrew calendar can mean to a poor old boy from out here in Podunk.
Unfortunately, as I write these lines this year, I will not be able to enjoy this Feast in a manner that I would usually enjoy, due to financial considerations as well as the fact that I just recently started a new job which will probably keep me tied down out here around the ranch for a little while. But I can say this about my past Feasts - they have given me some of the best memories of a life lived for the service of the Master. I hope that you, the reader, will indulge me this week in allowing me to reflect on an old memory of a past Feast similar to what others will be saying about three months from now when Christmas comes around and makes its annual repeat command performance.
Two things things have always stood out in my mind and impressed me about my past Festival observances: one, the opportunities to meet people of like mind; and two, the opportunity to put what I've learned during the Feast into action by putting in what I like to call "my spiritual lab time." Just as the theoretical concepts of any particular subject never do a peson any good unless they're put into practice, so do spiritual principles serve no use without the proper spiritual applications.
