Vacations are so important. They are an opportunity for us all to have fun, sure, and spend needed time with our families, no question. But there is more to them, for me. Vacations are reminders: I'm not nearly as important as my calendar would suggest...as my busy life would lead me to believe. Vacations provide me an opportunity to learn anew that everyone is expendable - everyone.
That doesn't mean we're not important or that we don't make a significant contribution. Rather, it is to say that vacations help me to gain a healthy perspective. Ultimately, I'm God's vessel, here for a season to use whatever I have to do whatever He wants. But in the last analysis, God is the important one, I am not.
PCC has a personnel policy that the Steering Team approved a few years ago. Like most organizations, vacation time grows with tenure. We were generous with our vacation policy, to help compensate for other areas of compensation that were a little less so. That means that I get four weeks a year now, since I've been here for over 7 years. I don't know that I'll take them all, but it's nice to have them.
What I WILL do, though, is leave for 2....in a row. Haven't done that in well over a decade. In fact, I'm already gone. I wrote this on Saturday, and left yesterday, headed for a week at Hatteras followed by a week at Myrtle Beach, both weeks possible because of the generosity of some good friends, and because our staff is incredibly competent.
I've posted in advance some thoughts here - they'll show up over the next few days, but next week will probably get pretty quiet on my end. I'm disconnecting from work, refocusing on God, enjoying my kids and Susan, reading the Bible and a good fiction book...and I'm re-appreciating this truth: I'm really not all that important, but God wanted me anyway.
That's how He feels about you, too.
See you in 2 weeks,
Brian
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