We practiced Sabbath because we had to.

The whole country stopped down,

and we knew immediately that it was exactly what we'd been missing.

God's story, your life.

Unfolding short stories.

From the moment Travis West said, I do.

Everything shifted.

Out of necessity, he began working twice as hard.

Caregiving, juggling side gigs, pushing through endless appointments.

Years later, his Hebrew studies carried him and his wife Mariah to Jerusalem, where Friday night

brings the whole city to a halt. In that stillness, Travis rediscovered an ancient rhythm. Some

call Sabbath difficult, but Travis calls it a gift. My name is Travis West, and I can still remember the moment that my wife and I love about 25 years ago.

We were seniors in college, and we were playing a game of Mad Gab, game where you have cards that have have gibberish written on them and you try and say the word fast so that the other team can guess the actual real phrase.

It's sort of a sounds like game. It's a totally ridiculous game.

C and I were playing with a group of high schoolers in the youth group that we were leading.

The moment itself was so hilarious and ridiculous that it's difficult to capture in words.

But for some reason, she and I ended up pretending to have very small yippy dogs caught in our throat, who were barking through our mouths.

We found this exceptionally funny, and we just kept doing it over and over.

And I have no idea how the high schoolers responded, because she and I were just caught

in each other's tractor beams. and we weren't conscious of anything

else that was happening. Well, a couple years later, we got married. And from the perch of our

wedding day, we looked out on a glorious horizon, two silly and playful kids ready to transform

...