Regardless of the fact that I actually planned, or at least knew, that this would be an insanely busy time in my life, I still feel like I'm overloaded. I'm the kind of guy that actually enjoys being busy a lot of the time - it's fun to push hard, live on adrenaline, juggle a lot of things at once. It's just that it's not a sustainable way. And I'm arriving at the "diminishing returns" place, where I'm having increasing difficulty maintaining concentration on the tasks at hand. I'm pretty sure things will settle back down into a rhythm of more controlled chaos in a few weeks, but until then, I need to keep pushing. The thing that has (somewhat) saved my butt thus far is that I'm still trying to being idealistic about the whole Sabbath thing.

After a long summer, school starts next week at UW. We're getting a new year of campus ministry stuff ready now. On a parallel track, inter::mission, a dream we've been working on for the past two years, is about to officially launch. It'll likely be a quiet launch that builds momentum, but at least we'll be able to say it's happening. I want so much to enjoy the ride with the students, and help them experience a different way of living and seeing the Kingdom of God at work . . . but that will require finishing a ton of work first. By the way, if you know any UW students that need housing this year, we've got a few open rooms at The Purple Door, just waiting . . .

Labels: sabbath, the purple door

. . . and when I do, I'll wonder where my summer went. Wow, it's continued to be super busy. Transitioning at the Purple Door, welcoming new staff, cranking on school, etc. At the end of last week, I had a quick trip to Atlanta for some meetings at one of the denom's big mission centers. It was a good trip - got to see some George Fox school buds for dinner, and the work project at the denom went very well.

I'm quite certain at this point that one of the key things that's kept me sane has been my renewed "efforts" in the area of Sabbath. I've not been perfect, mind you, but more often than not, I've been able to significantly mellow out and spend some down time reflecting, talking at a reasonable pace with my lovely wife, and realizing that the world will still be waiting for me when the day is over.

I only have two weeks left before my DMin school stuff gets going again, which means I need to hustle hard to get my summer school stuff knocked out. The classes I've taken this summer are on Jewish scripture . . . what we Christians call the Old Testament. That's been interesting, in the sense that it's a wonderful reminder to me that God's Kingdom has always been central in scripture, and that our story goes back a long, long time. Even the legal focus of these texts points in a direction that focuses on the true King, and the fitting response of his people.

Like it or not, the next few months are gonna stay hectic. In fact, I can almost guarantee that things will get "worse" before they start getting "better." It's almost all good stuff, though, so I don't want to complain (much).

Peace to all who read this.

Labels: denomination, friends, sabbath, school, the purple door, travel

I spent the past few days in the land of paradoxy. I was at a retreat for my colleagues in Northwest Collegiate Ministries - folks from all over Oregon, Washington, and Northern Idaho. The topic of the retreat was Sabbath . . . which sounded ever so refreshing to me. Unfortunately, because I don't get a chance to see my friends in ministry that frequently, I stayed up way too late, and got way too tired . . . quite un-Sabbath-like! But hey, at least it took place just in front of a three day holiday weekend, right? Sabbath time indeed!

The presentations given by my boss-man, and good friend Wes and his wife Charlene were really terrific. It wasn't just about convincing us that it's good to take a day off - they actually did a terrific job of making it real for people. In particular, I was pleased with how they integrated personality types into the discussion.

At one point, Charlene talked about how inconsistent and hypocritical we are when it comes to the 10 Commandments. We place great importance on the marital fidelity thing and the coveting thing (which is, of course, good), but we very regularly totally dismiss the Sabbath rhythms that remind us that we're finite, and most assuredly NOT God.

I am going to make strong efforts at developing a workable Sabbath rhythm. It'll be hard, I know. But what a great place to start in being counter-culture in our workaholic, consumeristic culture.

Labels: conference, sabbath