I returned from a 12 day vacation a week ago. Those 12 days included 2 Sundays, which was a first for my 8 years in ministry - 2 Sundays off back to back. I'm grateful that my congregation supports the time that staff takes to relax and re-create. I was in dire need of it, and didn't really start to relax fully until three or four days into it. By that point if I'd been taking my usual 7 days off I would have started gearing up mentally for returning. This time I could postpone that and even delayed it until about two days before I was to return. It made a world of difference.
But now it's been a week already and in some ways I feel like I never left. But in others I can see that my energy is renewed and my enthusiasm is higher than it was when I left. But what has happened is that the time I was taking to spend on exercise has plummeted, and that will make me very tired in short order. I've got to realize that without exercise I'll be thicker than I am at this moment, both mentally and physically.
There are big things ahead for me in the next few weeks. I've got to be at my mental and spiritual best. I scheduled a 2 day conference months ago before I knew what would be on my plate the first Sunday of October. As I started to think about being gone I started to bemoan that the timing was all wrong, but I've spent the money and can't get it back. As I think about it I am realizing that the trip might be a blessing rather than a curse. It will be a time for me to spend with other pastors and hopefully to get even more excited about the task that lays ahead.
On October 3 I will be preaching to at least 5 and perhaps 6 congregations, 2 of which are ethnic. The congregations are gathering together to celebrate World Communion Sunday. Not only are we gathering together for this celebration, but I am also going to be sharing with these people the vision that the five pastors have had for the future. "Doing great big things in a great big way for a great big God." We had a retreat last month and an impossible vision was laid on our hearts, so we're pretty sure that God is in it. The task of sharing this has fallen to me, and I am humbled, proud, honored and excited. I'm not really scared -- at least not this minute. I'm excited though, and sometimes my excitement chokes me up, both physically and mentally. So I'm praying for calm in the midst of the excitement so that I can be coherent and effective with my words. I'm only going to be able to do that if I take care of myself though.
So I won't be in the thick of it.
