Sabbatical, Sunshine…Sunburn

There is a time when every person needs a break. A break from work, from confusion, from business, from people. There is not always a good time to take that break but everyone needs it.

There are so many different ways that you can take a break. There is vacation, there is movies, there is writing, there is pictures, there are hobbies. So many different things that you can do to find yourself breaking from life in a sense.

As a youth worker, I feel like sometimes, I need this more and more than I have ever realized. With counseling, writing, business, brainstorming, meetings, typing, conversations, driving, trips, I dont want to type anything else. Not to say that no church worker needs a break as much as youth ministers, because I would say that all ministry/church workers should find a time to follow the command of a sabbath rest day.

It seems to be a growing trend in blogs that I read from other church workers. The value of a sabbatical is much greater than I have ever really thought about. It is something that can refresh, refuel and re-energize you for a good amount of time.

When was the last time you took a day off? A real day off. Not one that is a half day, or all you do is email. But one where you did nothing that involved your work?

I was lucky enough and privileged to have the chance to do that yesterday. 

I went to school at Lincoln Christian University and found myself falling in love with the game of golf even more. They have a scramble every year called the Alumni Open and I was invited to play this year with my best friend Ryne, his brother in law and my small group leader from college Matt. I was super excited to be able to have the chance to get away and have some fun.

However, what I got out of the day was much more than I was looking for.

All morning I learned more and more about Brandon(Ryne’s brother in law). He is an incredible guy. A good friend and a hard worker. Hard worker to the point where he broke his body down. But he realized that ” work is not working for money and killing myself. Work is made by God for God’s glory and if we dont keep that in mind, then we are missing the point.”

I couldn’t agree more. Brandon is totally right. That if I dont remember that working for God is much more of a priority than working for money or fame, then I am missing the point.

Fun leads to better workers/leaders/lives. You need to have fun with what you are doing in life. If you dont have the ability to enjoy what you are doing, then why are you killing yourself for it?

Keeping relationships are a much larger part of our lives than almost anything else. I think I knew this one, but it was reminded to me when I got to see some friends of mine that I havent seen in a long time and was able to share in a brother like embrace. It was just awesome to see those relationships that I had before, still there.

The last thing is that when it looks like it going to rain on the forecast in the beginning of May, dont believe the weatherman because they are most likely going to be wrong. It was sunny, 90 degrees and I got burnt to a crisp. My head really hurts.

Anyways, take a sabbath. Dont forget that what you dont have, you cant give out. When you are running on empty, dont expect much to be given by you because you dont have anything to give.