Take my yoke upon you...

I am closing off my 14th year of youth ministry.  My 8th year in youth ministry full time.  In other words:  over 20 week long summer camps, over 70 retreats, about 20 staff retreats, 5 month long assignments working at various Young Life camps, 19 weeks of preaching/speaking at youth camps, probably another 20 other seminar/teaching engagements, recruiting and training around 50 volunteers, meeting hundreds of kids each year, starting two areas from the ground up, and on and on the list goes.  It's not an amazing list (I certainly have friends who have clocked in more hours and done more incredible things within those hours), but it's not a small list either.  

Take my yoke upon you and I will give you rest.... this has been one of the most comforting things Jesus has said to me.  I would run to this scripture in Matthew when I was in high school after crying from the stress of my schedule.  And now finally 20 years later I have permission to take His yoke and sit at His feet (mixed passages sorry).

I've decided to blog my sabbatical for a couple reasons.  One, I know some of you get bored at work  and need to look busy :)  Two, I need accountability.  Although I do want to rest (there is gonna be a lot of sleeping these next few months) I also want to come out of this sabbatical with a refreshed outlook on ministry, my relationship with Christ and my relationship with people.  I figured if I "report" what I'm doing, I'll have to do a little bit more than sleep and watch marathons of "Tori and Dean; Inn Love".  So here it goes...

I am 4 days into my sabbatical.  The first day I spent running errands with my parents.  I love going to Costco with my mom.  It makes me feel like a kid again.  Stopped by to make an appointment with my optometrist while my dad slept in the car.  We picked up Nanay (grandmother) at the assisted living place.  She's always on the phone texting (that's right texting) or talking to someone in the Philippines about the ministry she and my grandfather built.  Never mind that she uses oxygen tanks, there are people to serve!  Well into her 80's I can see my future.  

The next day I slept in till 1pm.  I could have slept longer but my cousin called and said, "Are you asleep????"  I guess the previous week of camp had caught up with me.

Yesterday I was able to do a little shopping for items I may need in Hawaii.  A Mac Airport Express (which I can't seem to get work), a pair of Chacos for my hikes through the island, and a pack of Hanes tshirts just because they're so dang soft.  Spent several hours with my best friend catching up on life and ended up driving home at 2:30am.

Today I woke up at 6:30am to make my eye appointment.  Eyes slightly worse, but no need to change glasses.  Slept some more and watched Juno the rest of the afternoon .  

I haven't seen very many people yet.  I'm still pretty wiped out from the camp.  Next week though, I'll be in full force catching up with as many people as I can.