August 26, 2012 Susan and I had a good week in St Louis, helping our daughter Mary and her husband Steven with our grand daughters, Avery 7, Maya 4 and Holly 1 1/2. St Louis has great venues for the children.
We went to the Zoo one morning and the Children's Garden, part of the Botanical Gardens, another morning. Mary also gave me some tickets to a Cardinal's game so Avery and I did that the last day we were there. We went for 4 innings and that was just right for her. I felt really relaxed during the time there even though it takes effort to keep up with the kids. We enjoyed them.
Susan and I enjoyed an evening together last night as we celebrated our 41st anniversary. We went to a little French restaurant, Chez Elle, and then took in a show at the Folly Theater. We are thankful to the Lord for our lives together and the family He has given to us.
This coming weekend we will be with our whole family at Table Rock Lake for Labor Day. This is a tradition that we have been doing for 12 years.
We are feeling more and more rested. It has been good to be without ministry activity responsibility for these two months. In September we will doing a, "Personal Contribution Assessment" at the Nav Headquarters in Colorado Springs. This will help guide us in knowing where and how we can make our most effective contribution to the Kingdom of God moving forward.
My times in the Word have been good. I'm challenged by Hezekiah in II Kings 19:14 and how he turns to the Lord when he is threatened by the King of Assyria. "Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed, O Lord.. you alone are God ..You have made heaven and earth..listen to the words of Sennacherib, (the King of Assyria) sent to insult the Living God. (The Lord's response) This is what the Lord says, "I have heard your prayer concerning the King of Assyria...That night the angel of the Lord put to death a hundred and eighty five thousand men in the Assyrian camp.
Hezekiah's instinct to go to the Lord and lay out his request to the Lord speaks to me about going to the Lord in prayer as a first response in times of need.
I look forward to more good times in the Word this week.
Dave
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Sunday, August 19, 2012
August 19, 2012
This is the second month of our Sabbatical and is designated as a time of rest. It has been restful... as we have been free from ministry responsibilities. It turns out that Susan's need for rest was especially needed at this time as well as mine. We are coming along in this area. We have enjoyed taking an afternoon and evening and visiting places in KC. We went to the "Money Museum" at the Federal Reserve Bank last week and the "Air Museum" at the downtown airport this week. We recommend both. We then have gone out for coffee or a meal afterwards. Another week we enjoyed going to a movie.
My times in the Word have been good this last week. I have been reading about Elijah and Elisha in I Kings and II Kings. In I Kings 4, a widow's creditors were threatening to take her two sons as slaves. All she had was one jar of oil. She told Elisha and he said, "Go and ask your neighbors for empty jars." So she and her boys collected many empty jars. Elisha then told her to go into her house with her two boys and to start pouring the oil she had into the empty jars. She did and the oil didn't stop flowing. All the jars were filled. She asked her son, "Are there any more empty jars?" He said, "No." Then the oil stopped flowing. She was able to pay off her creditors and had plenty left to live on..
As I read this story, my heart was filled with a desire to see people come to Christ and be filled with His Spirit. I compared people without Christ to the empty jars. My heart is thrilled to think of the Holy Spirit being poured in the empty lives of people to fill them with the Lord and make them useful to God.
This week we will be in St Louis helping our daughter, Mary and her husband Steven. Mary has to go back to work this week but her kids don't start school until next week. It will be an opportunity to be with our 3 granddaughters, 7, 4 1/2, & 1 year.
All for now.
Dave
This is the second month of our Sabbatical and is designated as a time of rest. It has been restful... as we have been free from ministry responsibilities. It turns out that Susan's need for rest was especially needed at this time as well as mine. We are coming along in this area. We have enjoyed taking an afternoon and evening and visiting places in KC. We went to the "Money Museum" at the Federal Reserve Bank last week and the "Air Museum" at the downtown airport this week. We recommend both. We then have gone out for coffee or a meal afterwards. Another week we enjoyed going to a movie.
My times in the Word have been good this last week. I have been reading about Elijah and Elisha in I Kings and II Kings. In I Kings 4, a widow's creditors were threatening to take her two sons as slaves. All she had was one jar of oil. She told Elisha and he said, "Go and ask your neighbors for empty jars." So she and her boys collected many empty jars. Elisha then told her to go into her house with her two boys and to start pouring the oil she had into the empty jars. She did and the oil didn't stop flowing. All the jars were filled. She asked her son, "Are there any more empty jars?" He said, "No." Then the oil stopped flowing. She was able to pay off her creditors and had plenty left to live on..
As I read this story, my heart was filled with a desire to see people come to Christ and be filled with His Spirit. I compared people without Christ to the empty jars. My heart is thrilled to think of the Holy Spirit being poured in the empty lives of people to fill them with the Lord and make them useful to God.
This week we will be in St Louis helping our daughter, Mary and her husband Steven. Mary has to go back to work this week but her kids don't start school until next week. It will be an opportunity to be with our 3 granddaughters, 7, 4 1/2, & 1 year.
All for now.
Dave
Saturday, August 11, 2012
August 11, 2012
Our sabbatical is going well. We do realize though, that trials in life come even if one is on sabbatical. We had a little accident with our rental car in Montana when I hit a one foot hide boulder making a u- turn in a parking lot. We have had some paperwork with that.
Taking a sabbatical is a choice for renewal. It allows leaders to take a step back from ministry in order to reflect and seek God's direction for the next phase of ministry and life. It also allows time to rest from ministry activity. We are still in the resting stage. Susan and I were talking about how much this "time off"
of ministry activity is helping us. We realize now how fatigued we were and still are.
At our last meeting with our sabbatical support team, I shared how I wasn't missing the ministry activities. Several of them commented that this could be because I wasn't in my best fit or ministry role. Susan and I were able to do a good job recruiting and bringing together a Nav Staff team in KC over the last 5 years but this is not my "sweet spot" especially the administrative paperwork that goes with that job.
I am a minister not an administrator
A grass roots minister not a manager
One of our sabbatical support team members shared from Matthew 11: 28-30. "My yoke is easy and my burden is light." The word easy means "fit for good use" "fits you well" A key part of our sabbatical will be finding that role that is a "good fit" in future ministry for us.
I spend an hour in the Word each morning and also an hour reading books. I am in I Kings and Matthew and hungering more and more for this time with the Lord in His Word. I am reading The book, "Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership" Susan and I both sense that God's Spirit is at work stirring up our deepest longings to draw us into a deeper relationship with Him. We are growing in our understanding of the deep value and worth that we have in God's eyes just because of who we are in Christ apart of any ministry activity or production. "Moving more from a doing base to a being base" Finding our security in Him.
We continue our Rest phase through August and then will move into the reflect and assessment stage in September. We will go to the Nav Hdqtrs in Colorado for a "Personal Contribution Assessment" time next month. All for now.
Dave
Our sabbatical is going well. We do realize though, that trials in life come even if one is on sabbatical. We had a little accident with our rental car in Montana when I hit a one foot hide boulder making a u- turn in a parking lot. We have had some paperwork with that.
Taking a sabbatical is a choice for renewal. It allows leaders to take a step back from ministry in order to reflect and seek God's direction for the next phase of ministry and life. It also allows time to rest from ministry activity. We are still in the resting stage. Susan and I were talking about how much this "time off"
of ministry activity is helping us. We realize now how fatigued we were and still are.
At our last meeting with our sabbatical support team, I shared how I wasn't missing the ministry activities. Several of them commented that this could be because I wasn't in my best fit or ministry role. Susan and I were able to do a good job recruiting and bringing together a Nav Staff team in KC over the last 5 years but this is not my "sweet spot" especially the administrative paperwork that goes with that job.
I am a minister not an administrator
A grass roots minister not a manager
One of our sabbatical support team members shared from Matthew 11: 28-30. "My yoke is easy and my burden is light." The word easy means "fit for good use" "fits you well" A key part of our sabbatical will be finding that role that is a "good fit" in future ministry for us.
I spend an hour in the Word each morning and also an hour reading books. I am in I Kings and Matthew and hungering more and more for this time with the Lord in His Word. I am reading The book, "Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership" Susan and I both sense that God's Spirit is at work stirring up our deepest longings to draw us into a deeper relationship with Him. We are growing in our understanding of the deep value and worth that we have in God's eyes just because of who we are in Christ apart of any ministry activity or production. "Moving more from a doing base to a being base" Finding our security in Him.
We continue our Rest phase through August and then will move into the reflect and assessment stage in September. We will go to the Nav Hdqtrs in Colorado for a "Personal Contribution Assessment" time next month. All for now.
Dave
Thursday, August 2, 2012
August 2, 2012 Susan and I returned yesterday from Montana. While there, we had a great visit with Jim and Linda Fordyce and 8 wonderful days at the Meadow Creek Retreat cabin which was made available to us by Jerry and Lu Ann Broekhuis, friends of the Navigators. It is located in Fortine, MT. less than 20 miles south of the Canadian border. We enjoyed seeing the mountain ranges, majestic valleys, swift running rivers, clear streams, sunsets, vast forests, and wildlife, such as deer, elk, mountain goats, moose and pheasants. Susan and I took a drive each evening to catch sight of the deer as they would come out of the forest to graze. We also enjoyed doing some hiking together.
We arrived at the cabin on a Monday and I thought we had arranged to leave on the following Monday. When I mentioned that to Susan, she said, "I sure could use more time here." It was on Thursday when I glanced at the schedule in the cabin that I realized we had until Wednesday -- two more days than I had thought. We rejoiced and really profited from the extra days to rest, reflect and be restored.
Sabbatical comes from the word Sabbath, which denotes day of rest. Early in June, our Sabbatical Advisers reminded us that the goal of our first two months on Sabbatical is just that -- Rest! Susan had been quite busy with the needs of her mother in the first half of July so was really ready for this time in Montana. She is feeling much more refreshed now.
Matthew 11:28-30 is an invitation by Jesus to come to Him and receive rest. He also says that if we will take His yoke upon us we will find rest for our soul. The idea of "finding" rest brings with it the idea that we have lost rest for our soul. We are already profiting from this time of Sabbatical in finding rest for our souls. We already sense more hunger for God's Word and more room in our hearts for Him.
Today I called our daughter Michele and wished her a happy birthday. She is 34 today and enjoying life with her husband, Matt, and their 3 children.
We arrived at the cabin on a Monday and I thought we had arranged to leave on the following Monday. When I mentioned that to Susan, she said, "I sure could use more time here." It was on Thursday when I glanced at the schedule in the cabin that I realized we had until Wednesday -- two more days than I had thought. We rejoiced and really profited from the extra days to rest, reflect and be restored.
Sabbatical comes from the word Sabbath, which denotes day of rest. Early in June, our Sabbatical Advisers reminded us that the goal of our first two months on Sabbatical is just that -- Rest! Susan had been quite busy with the needs of her mother in the first half of July so was really ready for this time in Montana. She is feeling much more refreshed now.
Matthew 11:28-30 is an invitation by Jesus to come to Him and receive rest. He also says that if we will take His yoke upon us we will find rest for our soul. The idea of "finding" rest brings with it the idea that we have lost rest for our soul. We are already profiting from this time of Sabbatical in finding rest for our souls. We already sense more hunger for God's Word and more room in our hearts for Him.
Today I called our daughter Michele and wished her a happy birthday. She is 34 today and enjoying life with her husband, Matt, and their 3 children.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)