A few weeks ago was school vacation week. With the school being such a large ministry of our church whenever there is a break or vacation things look (and sound) very different around the building. I thought to myself "so this is what it would be like to pastor a church without a school" the silence is nice for a little while, but then it is not long before I miss the energy and vibrancy that all those kids bring to our building. Schedule wise things usually slow down a bit during vacation weeks. We give our midweek ministry leaders a break that week and so the week is a bit less busy. This particular week was a more relaxed one for me; we had Peter Kuzmic preaching at the beginning of the week and there was not a whole lot on my schedule. It was so relaxing that I almost felt a little guilty, I thought to myself "I should be busier, there is more I could be getting done. Lord there must be some thing you want me to do that I am missing here, I mean you can't want me to be this rested, can you?" I remember telling Wendy at the end of the week how rested I felt and that we need to be more intentional about our schedules so that we can get the rest we need. Contrast that with the last couple of weeks that have been filled with meetings, events, and some unexpected items that have come up, which have resulted in some 12-14 hour days.

But, rather than feeling guilty that I was not doing enough and having a really restful time a few weeks ago, or feeling stressed out about a really busy past couple of weeks I felt the Lord speaking to my Spirit, "I give you weeks like that (restful ones) because I know that you will have weeks like this (busy ones)." I am reminded that God designed our bodies with a Sabbath requirement and contrary to what our hyper-busy culture might think, rest is not a luxury, but a necessity to be and do all that we are intended to be and do.