Sabbatical Reflections

I am two weeks into my 2-month sabbatical.  For background, here's a post that Meredith Pace, one of our Leadership Team members, wrote a couple of months ago, and here's a post I wrote sharing with our church my heart and plans for this sabbatical.

So far the sabbatical has been marked by travel.  We started out with our second annual micro church trip to the water park, with a stop at Heifer Village on the way.  Two days later the four of us headed east.  We stopped overnight in Atlanta, staying with my Uncle Jack and Aunt Marlene.  Then we drove to Uncle Bruce and Aunt Ginger's Marsh House just a little outside Savannah.  We spent one night there, then two nights at their home in Savannah.

Then we headed to Tybee Island.  It's been a very restful trip so far, and we have two full days left.  Our condo is not completely ocean-front, but it will do.  Here's the view from our balcony.

We've spent most of our time at the pool or on the beach.  The first few days were cooler and windy, which made the waves a bit rough for the boys, but which also made the evenings on the balcony amazing.  We've also eaten a lot of seafood, which is always a good thing.  I introduced the boys to crab legs the other night.  They both loved it.

Yesterday we spent the day on Bruce and Ginger's sailboat.  The boys went fishing and Micah caught two sharks.

On Saturday we begin our drive back home.  We'll be spending the night in Atlanta, and arriving in Memphis on Sunday afternoon.

  

Sabbatical Reading List Part 1

One of my goals during my sabbatical is to read a lot.  Most of the time I am producing and pouring out.  During this sabbatical I am resting, which means no producing or pouring out.  Instead, I am receiving and being poured into.  One of the ways I'm doing this is through reading.

During this first month I've decided to limit my reading to the Bible, novels, history, and parenting resources.  So here's what I've been reading.

1.  The Epistles (Letters) in the New Testament
I bought a new NIV Bible right before my sabbatical started, and I'm using this chronology I put together for our series on Acts a few years ago.  I'm currently in 2 Corinthians.

2.  1776, by David McCullough
I'm just a third of the way through it, but so far it's a fascinating read.  Some that I remember from school, but lots that I didn't know.  I love reading about George Washington.  Such a great leader.  And I've enjoyed Henry Knox's story, especially the capturing and transporting of the guns from Fort Ticonderoga.  Fascinating.

3.  Wild Things: The Art of Nurturing Boys, by Stephen James and David Thomas
This one has been on my Kindle shelf for awhile.  So glad I'm reading it now.  If you have boys, you need to read this.  The authors utilize the themes from Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are to show the progress of a boy's life.  There's also a ton of practical advice for raising boys.

4.  The Hit, by David Baldacci
I love David Baldacci and have read most of what he's written.  This one was a great read.

5.  Inferno, by Dan Brown
I checked out the kindle version from the library before my sabbatical but didn't finish it, so I then checked out the audio version and am listening to it as well.  This is the fourth book in the Robert Langdon series (The Da Vinci Code)


As I begin to move into the second half of my sabbatical, I'll be shifting gears to spiritual formation, leadership, and ministry/mission.