It feels weird to be on vacation for more a couple days. But I am glad it has finally begun. I’m writing this on the plane heading for Seattle, WA (Aug 11). Even one of my friends at church Sunday said to me, “Pastor, I think you’re getting worn down.” It is true. I think I have noticed some effect in my writing too as it has seemed harder to be creative. I told JoAnne, “I think I will rest whenever possible on this vacation. I hope the travel part of it will not make it too busy. Sometimes on these kinds of travel vacations it is easy to try to see too much.
To me, vacation is a kind of annual Sabbath. The OT feast schedule had one feast in it that was a whole week long. One of the main purposes of Sabbath is rest. Physical renewal and spiritual renewal go together. A break from the usual routine is re-creating. So I believe annual vacation is a necessary part of the rest we need. JoAnne and I are taking a longer one this year, and one that involves plane travel to celebrate our 40th anniversary year as husband and wife. Keely and Mark sponsored a great party for us at church this past month. So now it’s time for our own way of celebrating – seeing some national parks.
I hope to blog some as the days go by, and I bought a new camera to help keep it interesting.