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.

This is one of the beautiful girls in the village in Uganda. She was injured by the LRA and lost both of her parents at their hands. Yet this smile is full of hope and melts hearts. This makes me thankful today.

We got to be there for the opening of the water well we helped raise money to put in for this village. There are now over 400 families from 2 villages that will now have clean drinking water. This makes me thankful today.

This girl was the first girl to pump water from the new well. She was so excited to have fresh water. This makes me thankful.

Normally not a two tone edit guy, but the hope in the yellow of that can for these children is huge. This makes me thankful.

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.

Twelve hours later and we arrived in the frozen, snow covered tundra of the mid-west.

Yesterday was the perfect day and we headed out in the snow with the girls for what would be a great day of playing and fun. Here are some pics and a video of our day. Hope you enjoy.

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.

As I looked down at my leg this morning there was a feather ever so gently kissing the denim between it and the skin of my thigh. I didn’t really notice it until it caught my eye.

Why?

Because it was not weighing me down. There was no burden it was asking me to carry. It was light, soft and simply taking a short journey through my story of life. That’s the funny thing about feathers of life…they are easy to carry!!! Their burden is light and asks nothing of us.

However…

Sunday I hopped a plane from DFW to Colorado. For the lack of wanting to pack a suite case that would need to be checked and go through the process of possible loss I packed all that I could into my backpack. There was also another backpack filled with camera gear. I had friends out here who wanted new photos done and so at their request along came backpack number 2. As I walked through the airport I realized what a load these bags were. They were burdensome to me. Every fifty feet or so I found myself having to stop and reposition these two bags of burden. They slowed me down and were constantly asking me to stop and adhere to them. The freedom came when I finally was able to shed those pieces of baggage.

No listen to this:

Hebrews 12:1-2

¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. ² We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.

As I read this I realized that my life needed a definite feathering. I know there are things, weights, that I need to shed to move forward. I need to focus on the main thing, not the little things that so easily distract from it.

I need to shed my anger and apathy.

I need to shed my complacency and worry.

I need to shed my consuming and coveting.

Life must become more joy filled and simplistic if I am to recover my life. Now as far as the sin that slows us down. I am sure there are many in our lives that we could point to, but my guess is, is that if you are like me you have that one bowling ball filled bag of that one sin that must be left in he middle of the woods and never to be returned to.

Today I want to leave that bag unattended in a remote location never to be found or picked up again. May we all find that our lives are filled with feathers instead of bags full of 15 lb. Brunswicks.