Labor Day at Lake Washington … come join hubby and me at three different beach parks on Lake Washington.
Beach Park #1 – There wasn’t any swimming going on … but the fishing must have been pretty good.
This verse popped into mind:
“As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake for they were fishermen. ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men.’ At once they left their nets and followed him.”
– Matthew 4:18-20
This bridge is the I-90 bridge. It’s amazing to think that this freeway (I-90) crosses the entire length of our great country! If you hop on this bridge and cross Lake Washington to the west, the freeway shortly ends at the Mariners baseball stadium in downtown Seattle.
However, hop on this freeway and travel east, and I-90 takes you all the way across the entire state of Washington … all the way across the state of Idaho … across the great state of Montana … it then dips down across the northeast corner of Wyoming … then across the entire state of South Dakota … it parallels all along the bottom edge across the state of Minnesota … crosses the Mississippi River into Wisconsin … then turns due south to head down into Illinois … I-90 makes it around Chicago and the bottom of Lake Michigan … then on it continues, straggling the border between Michigan & Indiana … it travels all the way across the top of Ohio, paralleling the shores of Lake Erie … and then into the state of New York … all the way across New York, then on across Massachusetts, where it terminates in Boston, at the Boston International Airport.
From the Puget Sound on the Pacific Coast, all the way to the Boston Harbor on the Atlantic coast! It’s incredible that if you just simply set out on this road it will take you the entire distance across our continent!
We are all connected! All across our great country we are all connected. We all have basically the same hopes and dreams. We all get up each day and head off to work. Our work is hard. It’s exhausting. But this is what God has given us.
“That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil – this is the gift of God.”
“So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot.”
– Ecclesiastes 3:13, 22
“Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him – for this is his lot.”
– Ecclesiastes 6:18
Beach Park #2 – Far off in the distance you can see the Boeing Renton factory. It is here that the narrow-bodied commercial airplanes are made (737, etc.), as well as miliary aircraft.
Lunch at the lake. Once again there was no swimming going on at this beach park, but 5 guys were enjoying fishing. They even had a charcoal grill set up and must have been frying up the fish they caught for lunch.
This verse popped into mind, of Jesus cooking fish over a fire after his death and resurrection:
“Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, ‘Friends, haven’t you any fish?’ … When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread. Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish you have just caught.’
“Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.”
– John 21:4-14
Butterfly bush at the lake! Thank you God for daily blessings!
Seahawks Football training facility.
This verse popped into mind:
“Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should.”
– 1 Corinthians 9:25-27
Of course, this verse isn’t literally speaking of physical training. It is simply using the physical training metaphor as an example of how we should live the Christian life. Just as an athlete trains hard, so also we give it all we’ve got as we live for Jesus Christ!
“To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.” – Colossians 1:29
Beach Park #3 – and a few final thoughts about labor.
Once more, you can see there is no swimming going on at this beach park.
But there is fishing going on.
It takes a lot of time to fish. It takes patience to fish. You can’t rush fishing.
Jesus used the analogy of fishing to compare it to sharing the good news of God’s Kingdom with people. It takes time to build relationships with people and to share the good news of Jesus with people. It takes patience when sharing the good news of Jesus with people. You can’t rush it.
Sometimes it might feel like all your labor and efforts are in vain. You “fish” and “fish” and “fish” and you come up empty.
But God wants us to know that our labor is not in vain. Our labor is not wasted.
“Therefore my dear brothers/sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” – 1 Corinthians 15:58
This pine tree at beach park #3 brought to mind this verse describing the person who labors faithfully for God’s Kingdom:
“He is like a tree planted by steams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” – Psalm 1:3
One final verse to wrap up these Labor Day thoughts:
“Then I heard a voice from heaven say, ‘Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.'” – Revelation 14:13
Thank you God for Labor Day lessons from Lake Washington!
