When is a holiday not a holiday?

In the north of Japan, summer holidays for school children are short - just 3 1/2 weeks. Most of their parents will only be able to take a couple of days of that, maybe to go camping for a night. So what do children do? One of the answers is work! Calum has come home with about 20 sheets each of maths and Japanese, with a note from the teacher explaining that children are expected to do 30 minutes a day revising this term's work. They also had to choose something to study, a sport and some way to help at home, and have a chart which they fill in each day saying whether they managed these things, as well as a note to write of what they did each day. On top of that each child is expected to produce some sort of craft which should take about 3 days to make. Calum's football and swimming also continue pretty much as usual. In churches, Sunday schools will continue through the holidays, with most children being there most of the time. We have the saying 'All work and no play'. So often that can be the reality for people here. And perhaps that is why many Japanese are drawn to Jesus through his own words - 'Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest'.