This summer I had the privilege of taking a 12-week sabbatical. It was the first one I have taken in my 21 year ministry career (I did take some time off before moving to Austin, but that doesn’t count because emigration and immigration is harder than any job.) I went back to work a little over three weeks ago, and the fact that it has taken me this long to record this summary probably tells you everything you need to know about what work re-entry has been like. However, my time off was very sweet and significant and I sensed God doing something meaningful in my soul and in my life that I hope will bear fruit for years to come.
Many have asked how my time was. The questions usually coagulate into three categories. What did you get up to? What did you read? What did you learn? Here then are answers - in neat batches of 12 - for each of those questions.
What Did I Do?
Here are my 12 favorite things that I did over the summer.
I read … a lot. More on that below.
I worked out … a lot. More on that below.
I cooked … a lot, and loved it.
I did regular and routine housework and didn’t hate it.
I prayed and journaled and read the Scriptures without the pressing deadline of a sermon outline.
Spent a very slow and rejuvenating week at a friend’s Texas ranch house. Was just magical and was marked by the highly unusual cool and rainy late June weather.
Spent a long weekend in New Orleans with my family and loved it!
Spent a week in Seaside, Florida with the family. Took morning and evening beach walks. Ate ice cream, browsed book and record stores, and introduced the kids to the masterpiece that is The Truman Show, which was filmed in that town.
Took the family to Disneyland, and even kind of enjoyed it. More on that below.
Spent a week in San Diego and the whole family loved it!
Took Sue to Santa Barbara and felt the call of the Lord to serve as a minister to Harry, Meghan, and Oprah. Currently looking for a little bungalow in Montecito.
Ate at a Michelin star restaurant and had my gastronomical life fundamentally altered.
I also pursued some existing hobbies like making music and playing golf. I didn’t get any better at any of those endeavors, but enjoyed it all a lot.
What Did I Read?
Too much to include a full list here, but here are 12 that impacted me most deeply.
Fiction
The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell - Robert Dugoni
Cannery Row - John Steinbeck
The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway
My Friends - Frederick Backman
Non-Fiction
The Adventures in Time Series - Dominic Sandbrook (I have taken the liberty of including a series of books here. I read these with my son as they are designed as history books for kids/teens, but I recommend them to anyone and everyone as really accessible and helpful reads.)
The First World War: In Total War, No Life is Untouched
The Second World War: Enter a Battle for Future of Humanity
The Fury of the Vikings: Fear the Northmen’s Wrath
The Rest is History Returns: An A-Z of Historical Curiosities - Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook
The Augustine Way: Retrieving a Vision for the Church’s Apologetic Witness - Joshua Chatraw & Mark Allen
The Art Thief: The True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession - Michael Finkel
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder - David Grann
Run with the Horses: The Quest for Life at its Best - Eugene Peterson
True Spirituality - Francis Schaeffer
The City of God - Augustine (select parts and focusing on the last 10 books of the work)
What Did I Learn? (The silly things)
I am not smart enough to fully appreciate Dostoevsky, and I am no longer young enough to pretend like I am.
I am at the season of life where I can work out every single day for 12 weeks and still look and weigh exactly the same.
Being home alone with a full fridge and pantry reveals that I eat when I am bored, anxious, happy, content, tired or in the general vicinity of the kitchen. I don’t believe that this is related in any way to lesson 2 above.
In spite of these age related ills, I am still younger today than I will ever be again.
I am not rich enough for Disneyland. I don’t think anyone is.
I think Disneyland is drugging people, and I’m not even mad about it.
I will never be a good guitarist but I am going to keep trying to strum along.
I will never be a scratch golfer, but I am going to keep hacking along.
I will never be a good runner, but I am better at running in California than I am at running in Louisiana, and I will keep plodding along.
The number one ongoing contributor to my high stress levels is my own chronic procrastination.
The number two ongoing contributor to my high stress levels is the fact that I go out of my way to allow and perhaps encourage constant stressors in my life.
The only thing more refreshing than a 20 minute nap is a 2-hour nap, but any nap of any length between those two will render you unable to function.
What Did I Learn? (The serious things)
I’m exhausted because I choose to live in an exhausting way.
Why was I still tired and anxious when I had no professional work to do? Maybe it is because I carry the world’s most powerful device of distraction and hubris around with me in a smartphone, and then strap a smaller version of it to my wrist, and mount a bigger version of it to every wall in the house? Living on devices leaves me permanently distracted and distractable, always feeling like I should know more, see more, experience more. That sounds exhausting. And it is.
Time off won’t fix it. I need a new way to live.
We live in cycles of looking forward to times where we get to break away from the reality of our lives and responsibilities, but short seasons of time off can’t undo cumulative years of exhausting living. I don’t want to fantasize about getting away from my life, but rather I want to find ways to live the life I have in a different way. Watch this space for some big changes from me, but it is starting with an old school watch and a dumbing down of my smartphone.Be the most present in the places where you aren’t replaceable.
Lots of people could be a pastor at The Stone, but only one person can be dad to Daniel and Katie, and husband to Sue.We all need a coach/discipler/mentor.
I had such a good plan for my sabbatical, but the best input on how to not waste it came from my friend Brett who served as my coach. He was so helpful and saw things that I wouldn’t have seen. His most memorable input to me?
- Take more naps.
- Try to have a few days with your kids where you don’t say no to them once.
- Play more golf.
- Stop trying to win at everything.
- Don’t check the news.
He lovingly pointed me to wisdom, checked in on me, prayed for me, and kept me accountable. We all need that in all areas of our lives.
God loves you just as you are and not for what you can contribute.
He loved you before you were a pastor. He would love you if you weren’t one anymore. You can’t earn it or lose it. So just enjoy it and receive it.You will never again be as young as you are today.
Sobering, but true. Don’t waste it.We are on the right track as a church and I want to walk that track with you.
I am more compelled by our vision than I ever have been. When we told our congregations that we thought God was calling us to healthy congregational lives of joyfully devoted discipleship, some were bemused, thinking that was too small, too vanilla, too generic. I now think it may be the boldest things we ever attempt, and it is a cause worthy of my time, talent, and treasure.Church attendance is a lifeline back to reality.
I loved attending church as a congregant. The songs, the prayers, the message, the people all serve as reminders of what is real in the world … that God exists and that he loves us and is working in our lives. We need the regularity of a weekly reminder of that.God’s voice is quiet, consistent, slightly wild, and the most powerful thing in the world.
Reading the Word with no sermons to prep was so wonderful. God speaks, but usually in a whisper, inviting us to lean in and listen.
Beauty is everywhere, but you have to be willing to stop to see it.
I know that the world has lots of broken things but it also has so many beautiful things. Music, flowers, slow-cooked meals, the written word, laughter, riding a bike, the smell of grill fire on a summer’s evening, the flight of a humming bird.
Work is beautiful and meaningful and valuable.
I am excited to get back to work. What a joy to be able to take gifts and experience that God has granted to us to be able to use that for the flourishing of others! I don’t want to work a job I hate and I never want to see a job as just a job. Every vocation is an opportunity to represent Christ and His ways to the world!
God gets His way.
What He starts in us, He sees through to completion. What He wants in the world, He will get in the end. So might as well trust Him and enjoy the comfort of knowing that He has me, and that He won’t let me go.
That’s it. I am so grateful for the time and I can only ask the Lord that I steward it well and that I use it as fuel for years of faithful ministry ahead.