Sabbatical

    For the next 3 months I get the privilege to rest, renew and draw closer to God. I so appreciate my local church for allowing me to do this. I know that others on the team are carrying extra load to make this happen. I feel honored and blessed.
     So, as I contemplated what to do with my time I quickly came to the realization that it's not really my time. So I asked the Lord what he wanted me to do during this season. Two things, even three stood out to me. First God wants me to spend more time being intimate with him. Secondly, I am to feed copiously on his presence and his word. (Out of this I am working on an encouragement study for small groups and a devotional on the book of Psalms.) thirdly, I felt like the Father was going to reconnect me with some old associations and be renewed in fellowship with them. (Amazingly, in the last two weeks I have connected with three people I haven't dialogued with in 20 to 40 years and will be able to during this time.)
     I also am going to be doing some fun and practical things like: finish my workshop, clean out my garage, learn how to airbrush paint better, write some worship songs and practice the guitar more consistently. Should be a blast. Ronda, my wife, wondered if I might get bored. But I told her I have too many things to accomplish to be able to be bored!
    Already I have had some great God- moments; a young woman walked up at the bookstore and told me how my testimony at a Celebrate Recovery, long ago, inspired her to believe that she could change and get off of drugs and begin a new life. Then she told me that just the day before she had been thinking about me, out of the blue! So encouraging.
     Here's the passage of scripture I decided to work on memorizing; Eph. 2:4-8 - "But God (After listing our horrendous condition before we knew and trusted Christ), being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ..."
There is much more but I am being overwhelmed by the thought of God our Fathers' mercy and love bestowed on us. How amazing! While we were his enemies, he loved us and showed us his wonderful mercy. He is so kind and good and gracious!
May we never forget that daily he loads us with benefits and loving guides and counsels us. May we come to fully trust and wholeheartedly rely on the strength of that love.

Sabbatical

.   The church where I serve has given me the privelege of taking a 3 month Sabbatical. I feel extremely blessed, knowing that others on our staff are taking extra load of responsibility to make this happen. 

    I thought about what I might do during this time and realized that God had some ideas about what I should devote my time to during this season. I felt like he gave me three things to focus on. First, use this as an opportunity to draw closer to the Lord. (I'm doing this by spending more time in prayer and worship and His word.) Secondly, it seemed right to sow copious amounts of God's word into my life, so everyday I'm reading devotionals, memorizing scripture, and reading God's word. Finally, I sensed that the Lord was going to orchestrate events to reconnect with old friends and share mutual encouragement . ( In the last 2 weeks, amazingly, I have re-connected with some old friends that I haven't heard from in 20 to 40 years and arranged to meet with them.)

    Already I feel like my Father in heaven is rejuvenating me. I've been sleeping better and spending more time and effort loving on my wife. I'm also starting to run again on the local running path. 

    During this time off I also wanted to make sure Ronda, my wife, and I had good "us" time together. We are! I'm taking her to Hawaii in March and to Boise to see her folks in February and then to Carmel, California in April. What a blast we will have enjoying family and friends and each other!

    So, this blog is a letter of information and appreciation for this amazing God- opportunity these next 3 months.