Vacation Update

This Sunday I am really looking forward to Roger Gibson joining us for what I am certain will be a terrific message. I am on vacation this week getting my batteries recharged. Susan and I are at home this week relaxing and doing house projects while the kids are with her parents in Cerritos. Since starting New Song my vacations have been mostly working vacations in that my load is just lighter. This week has been pretty much the same as I have only had about one work call, meeting, minor crisis, etc. each day. As a pastor I am in a sense always "on call," though I do try to set boundaries that allow me to get some rest.

Each day this week I have felt my energy level get higher and higher. In the past, because of my control issues and need to make everything work at church I haven't take enough time off. Times like this remind me though how God wants me to rest. When I do he restores my optimism, faith, and hope in the future.

Last week was a good start to our vacation. We had a great day at Legoland on Thursday and then at the Orange County Fair on Friday. I had never been to the Orange County Fair before and it was an interesting experience. We got to the fair at about 12:00 PM on Friday and drove into the parking lot under a big sign that said "Parking $10". The strange part was that there was no one there to take any money at the gate. So, we drove in along with everyone else, parked, and headed toward the main gate. There another sign said "Admission $9." This time there were attendants at the gate, but they weren't taking anyone's money. So, we walked right in there too. It turned out that we arrived just as the fair was starting for the year and for the first hour admission and parking were free. That day all the rides were also reduced to $1 each (some were normally $4-$5 each). This may sound like good timing for us, which it was, but it also meant that half of Orange Country decided to show up at the fair at the same time we did. It was waaaay crowded. I never thought I would wait in line for over an hour for a 90 second carnival ride. The kids loved it though, so the waiting was no big deal. The kids also got cotton candy and Icee's so that was fun too. Being three, Meg's never had a full size Icee all to herself before. Big mistake. She was so full of sugar that she was up until about 11 PM and my guess is that she's now fully on her way to having diabetes. The weather was nice in Newport Beach that day and so overall I'd give the day a big thumbs up.

This week I have been riding my bike, staining and stripping our stair railing, and just relaxing. Susan and I went to dinner and the movies on Monday night and saw Hancock. It was an interesting movie, though in my opinion it should have been rated R (lots of language and violence) and was an unusual super hero movie. The story was interesting, but I am not sure I'd recommend it.

This week I have also been meditating on a lot of key scriptures

including a passage from Isaiah that my friend Jim Cheatham shared with me: Isaiah 43:18-19 God has used this verse to encourage me that he is not done with our church and that he wants to use us to advance his kingdom and see people come to Christ! I realize that God has called me to be faithful to him and focus on this and not the past. Hebrews 13:17 also has reminded me that one day I will stand before God and be held accountable for how I led our church. With that in mind I need to keep digging underneath the surface and making sure my motives are right and my focus is on him!

When I was riding my bike yesterday I also got to listen to a great message from Adam Hamilton. He used the broadway story of Beauty and the Beast to talk about God's power to transform us and how sin destroys us and turns us into monsters. Travis Smith told me about Adam Hamilton and I am glad that he did. Adam Hamilton is a Untied Methodist pastor in Kansas and so his messages are very different than what I normally listen to, but I was encouraged and God used it build up my faith!

It's been good to know that God is in control and I can rest in him!