I have worked on Sunday mornings in my day job for over six years. In that time I distinctly remember taking off three Sundays. One was unplanned and came after sleeping overnight in the Denver airport chapel due to a cancelled flight (with my wife and our 18 month old!) then catching a new flight during my work hours. My schedule recently changed and now I no longer work on Sunday mornings. My first Sunday off coincided, I feel significantly, with Passover.

Please don’t hear me wrong, the Passover carries so much significance on its own. I’m not trying to downplay it. What I’m trying to explore is God’s grace and coincidence-making in our daily lives. Although my previous schedule certainly contained some advantages (who doesn’t love having Fridays off?), I began to feel burdened. Although I could make it to our church’s late service, not participating in life with my family on a full Sunday began to drag me down.

On my first Sunday off I awoke and felt the strangeness of my presence in the house in pre-church hours. I felt a peace, yet a newness. I sensed a foreignness in entering into a routine I’ve never known of my family. We prepared for church together. Ate breakfast together. And left for church together.

Some of these activities I’d previously experienced slices of, but participating in a full Sunday morning with no phone ringing; no pressure to help a customer; and more freedom to slow down, take my time, and be present, felt wonderful and new.

I wonder what life felt like for Israel as they left Egypt. When they woke up the first morning after fleeing, or perhaps after crossing the Red Sea, what thoughts and feelings occurred to them? Were they nervous? Elated? Peaceful? Scared? I felt all those on Sunday.

I suppose we all have our own ways we feel captive (not to minimize Israel’s, or anyone else’s, literal captivity). I’m sure I continue to hold other places in my mind and heart where I continue to feel imprisoned. As with Israel, God is able to walk me out of those places if I’m willing to trust Him to do so. A work schedule is one thing, but where else might I be continuing to remain enslaved (possibly even by my own choosing)?

And where may you be doing the same thing? Where may God be miraculously calling you away from and to?