If you could take a mini-vacation anywhere in the world, where would you go?

When I'm buried in the midst of hard work, I get this urge to escape on vacation! I wish I could just go away and live in this perfect idyllic life where I never have to worry about troubles ever again in my entire life.

Have you ever dreamed like that? Sure, we all have. If I could make the dream come true I would probably go to the high Rocky Mountains of Colorado, to an old ghost town called Crystal. Crystal is in a 9,800-ft-high mountain valley where miners built a town to match the silver lode they found in the veins of quartz. There are 12,000-13,000 foot peaks on all sides. Today the miners are gone and it is a place of absolute total peace.

I guess that's what vacations ought to be, times of "absolute peace." In Crystal there is still one old miner's cabin, and since the town is owned by some old friends of ours, we're occasionally able to bring our sleeping bags to that miner's cabin. No running water. No electricity. Nothing except an old wood stove, an outhouse and a couple of beds. Perfect for sitting in an old hand-made rocker in front of the ancient cabin and watching the clouds go by. "Absolute peace!"

I think that's God's ideal for us—"Absolute peace!"

In the New Testament book of John, Jesus Christ is quoted as offering us that gift, a special life of peace and energy. It is in John, chapter ten, verse ten; "For the thief, the enemy, comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. But I have come that you may have life abundant, full and free."

That sounds like a promised vacation to me! A vacation from all the thief's attempts to make my life hard, unmanageable and frustrating.

If you could go anywhere in history for a mini-vacation, where would you go? Although I love Crystal, Colorado, I would probably go to Creation, Seventh Day. The sixth day of creation was also fun. I would love to see Adam and Eve created as the book of Genesis records in such exquisite detail. But what I would really like to do is go to the seventh day, the day when God said, "Look, I've got all day. Can we just spend this together?" I want to be there as Adam, Eve and the Creator enjoy a Sabbath rest together. That was a time of "Absolute peace!"

No, it was not just a time of just peace and quiet, but a time of energy and excitement, a time of learning to live life as God lives it. You see, that's what John 10:10 is really describing! The enemy wants you to die as painfully as possible. But God wants you to live life abundant, full, free...exactly as He lives it.

Imagine that first day when the Creator, Adam and Eve wandered around the garden together. Yes, I think they went to the highest mountain and looked at everything through the eyes of eagles. They may have even gone flying on some giant eagle's wings. Wouldn't that have been exciting with the Creator serving as navigator?

I also think Adam looked at the Creator and said, "By the way, all those fish, could we get another look at those?" And you see them, all three of them—Creator, created Eve, created Adam—kneeling on the edge of a river with their heads down in the water, saying, "That's a large mouth bass! And that one's a lionfish. And over there is a rainbow trout." And the Creator says, "Those are going to make a whole lot of fishermen happy!" It would have been a glorious time of being together and enjoying creation with the Creator.

Isn't that what life, as God lives it, is all about...spending time with the Creator and enjoying absolutely everything He has created? Yes, that unfortunately includes some of the stresses that you'll find at work today. But, those stresses are going to help you grow a little deeper, learn to be a little more patient and learn to handle something you never knew how to handle before. But, this is the process of living an abundant, full and free life with the God who says, "Ignore the thief. Ignore the enemy. Don't let him overcome. Instead look at life through my window."

"Life as I live it," says God, "Abundant life, full life, life you can enjoy, a vacation with me. "Absolute peace!"

—Dick Duerksen