Here I sit…

Week two of my sabbatical is coming to a close. I was really looking forward to this time, but even I did not realize how much I needed it. Let me back up though. Some of you hear the word sabbatical and you think a myriad of things. Some think…

VACATION

NOTHINGNESS

TIME OFF

LAZY

Even though all those things seem to be what we would label “sabbatical” it is so much more than that. This is what I love about my church. At the ten-year mark they give each of our staff members a one month sabbatical. However, this is not a vacation. This is not nothingness. This is not “time off”. It is rest, but is not laziness. This is a time to rest, replenish, and re-energize. In fact there are some requirements on our time of sabbatical. Not a list of rigid rules, but some guidelines in order to make us truly get the most of it.

REQUIREMENTS OF SABBATICAL:

Week 1: You must spend one week at another church simply serving. For me that was a trip to Nashville. Some of my best friends are on staff at one of the best churches in the country there. I love it, because I can go, copy stuff, make coffee, file stuff, love on people, take notes, encourage staff, and simply be a guy helping the church for no other reason than serving the church.

I am not drawing a paycheck from them.

I am not getting any gain other than serving them with the gospel.

I have to tell you that it is one of the best weeks I have had so far on my sabbatical. In fact I was able to get my friend there to take the weekend off, which was the first time in four years that he has had a Sunday off where he was not leading somewhere else. I served him and his family and it was so rich. We unplugged, got in kayaks and spent three hours in the Harpeth River in Tennessee. It was full of resting, replenishing, and re-energizing. It took that week to get me in a state of sabbatical.

Middle of Nowhere: Nashville, TN

Week 2: You must spend a few days in solitude. Solitude looks different for all people. However, one constant remains. You must get still and quiet in order to hear God’s voice in new and fresh ways. I was home from Nashville for a few days to celebrate my wife and daughters birthdays and then I hopped another plane to the North East. I walked off the plane this past Saturday in Boston. It was cool and overcast outside. I got my rental car and started up the coast. An hour later and I was in Manchester, NH. Now being an East Coaster myself it felt as if I was coming home. It was welcoming and full of beauty. There were rolling hills and mountains in the distance. I spent a few days with my good friends Bo and Eric who used to be on staff with us in Texas, but now lead one of the greatest churches in the North East. Everyday since I have been here I have had large chunks of solitude. Simply still and quiet moments. It is amazing when you still yourself how clearly you can hear God.

He has spoken through scripture.

He has spoken through nature.

He has spoken through the quiet.

He has spoken through others.

He has simply spoken…

Today is a full day of solitude. Today is full of writing, reading, and listening.

New Found Lake: Bristol, NH

Week 3 & 4: You can do what you would like. For me…that means going home and hanging with my family. Investing all I can in my wife and daughters. Giving them the full attention that they need from their husband and father. It means resting at home. It is like when you go on vacation and you come home needing a vacation from your vacation. Well, this time I get that. I get to come home and rest after traveling to rest. Sure I look forward to new places. I love the quiet of airplanes, hotel rooms, and the loneliness that sometimes comes with travel. In fact I revel in those moments. However, there is really no place like your own bed, couch, kitchen, patio, family, and surroundings. I actually look more forward to that than I do anything else I have done.

I encourage you…if you are not taking a regular sabbath, you need to. You don’t need a month. In fact Jesus retreated regularly to rest, replenish, and re-energize. It is time that we take back the time that God wants from us and give it to him. It is there and there alone that we hear the still small voice of the Lord.

OUR SET FOR THE DAY!!!

However you could not be more wrong. Even though I do love the occasional picture of woodland goodness, these photos are actually of my good friends Ben and Crystal Woods. I have known this fine looking couple for the better part of 13 years now and have to say that I love them more and more as time goes on. Ben and I spent a brief time of life traveling and playing music, but have spent even more time enjoying life and pouring into each other. While in the frozen tundra of Illinois I got to spend a day taking some rad new pics for my friends and their family. Check em’ out.

No wind…

Blue Skies…

Fall colors…

Great family to shoot photos of!!!

The Gotcher’s are one of those families that I know that I will be friends with the rest of my life. Three years ago they commissioned me to take their family photos when I was first starting out in photography and today was our annual moment in time to shoot some more photos of their rockin looking family!!! Here are a few of my favs of the day. To see the rest go to my Flickr and check them out and leave some love.

]]> http://freshairpoetry.com/2010/11/27/the-gotcher-family-2/feed/ 1 http://freshairpoetry.com/2010/11/17/corey-blade-history-of-flight-episode-1/ http://freshairpoetry.com/2010/11/17/corey-blade-history-of-flight-episode-1/#comments Thu, 18 Nov 2010 01:23:32 +0000 Trevor http://freshairpoetry.com/?p=2309 I have a good friend from THIS CREW…that has made some awesomely hilarious videos. Here is episode #1 of five!!!

One of my best friends on this earth, Mr. Josh DeVine. We have done a couple of extreme things together. I like that about our friendship.

However, what actually happened was that I began to absolutely fall in love with group of guys they had assembled. They were all so legit, so real, so humble, and so willing to pour into others they had ever met. Out of this my heart began to soften. I felt much like the Grinch when the Who’s accepted him. I longed to be in relationship with them. I longed to hear their stories. I longed to pour into them as well.

So here I sit three years later, having traveled to Estes Park, San Diego and now Crested Butte, CO to do life with these incredible men. At the end of the first year they gave us all T-Shirts with the attributes that they saw in us that stood out the most. Out of this journey I have gained 19 new friends, but two of them have become those that I would call close friends. In fact the post below this one is of those two incredible men. Josh and Kyle. Josh is a guy from Nashville who is changing his story each and every day in order to be more like Christ. Kyle is a man who three years ago was ready to be done and today is a man of confidence and great faith. He loves people unconditionally and is now at a really great place in life. On the backs of their shirts there were two phrases written that have been key in the Rhythm of their lives.

Here they are:

So what word or phrase would be used to describe you and the rhythm of your life?

Hope you are having a great week.

From the top of the mountain…