Good Morning.
As I begin day 2 of my 90 day sabbatical, I think I did well staying away from ministry duties. I am a doer, and many of you know that this period of time to stay away will be difficult for me. I have been told by several of my colleagues and family that I won’t last the entire 90 days away from the office. I have vowed to do so to my self and my family. Now, to be honest most of us pastors never turn off our God given calling. We are always in our pastoral mode. It is in our DNA. So, how do we turn it off for the sake of refreshment, rest, and refocus?
Refreshment – I want to do things during this time that allow me to enjoy my time off. I enjoy cooking. It is not a chore for me. I enjoy organizing. It is not a chore for me. So I will try some new recipes and I plan on organizing my garage, closets, and “coffee bar” area. We have so many cookbooks that we have planned on using but in the heat of ministry we just never got around to them. I hope to try to cook new things. I think that is what we are suppose to do on a sabbatical. I will not be writing multiple sermons, policy documents, or taking a course to become certified in a ministry area. I know many pastors who used their sabbatical to do such things and never took time to refresh.
As I approach 62 years old, I realize I need to refresh for the home stretch of ministry. I want to finish well like so many others have done. I believe I have 5 more “sweet spot” years left in me, and who knows health permitting maybe more. Only God knows that. I don’t want to say I am in retirement mode, and others think I will be costing out my last ministry years on some farewell tour. That’s not who I am. I am someone who goes at ministry full speed, so this refreshment time is not different. I need to refresh with the same vigor as I do in ministry. The way to do that is to do things that are good for my well being, mind, body, and soul.
Yesterday as I began reading On Fire by John O’Leary, I was reminded of the shortness of our earthly lives. You see, we do need to live life to the fullest as Jesus said in John 10:10 because the enemy is trying to steal it away from us. John O’Leary was asked this question by his mom when he was 9 years old; “Do you want to die?” O’Leary had been burned on 100% of his body and was in a dire state of life. He was so excited to see his mom by his bedside, and yet that question came out of her mouth. We don’t control everything that happens to us, but we can control how we live life and respond to tough situations. We too, must ask our selves, “do we want to die?”
If you want to live, you must make radical decisions. Stop making excuses. This is your life. Do you want to die? No? Good. Then act like it – from page 13, of “On Fire.”
In the light, Larry E Floyd, 1 John 1:7
In The Light, 1 John 1:7 