Weekend Off
Posted in Family |Man, did I need this weekend off. I had taught every weekend since mid-July, and that’s just too much. I didn’t realize how tired I was. I decided to take Gary’s lead, and for the first time in as long as I can remember, I didn’t go to any church this weekend. It was a surreal weekend, knowing that I was just hanging out while PVC was still going, but here’s some observations I had…
1) My family loved it. It blew my kids away that we weren’t going to church, they didn’t quite understand. Saturday we woke up and went to breakfast with Santa at Verrado. We ate, took pic’s, had a snow ball fight, and hung out with friends. Then we lounged around much of the day, until it was back to Verrado for the Christmas tree lighting. Again, hung out with friends and just had a blast.
Sunday, we slept in. Met our new neighbors (more on that later), and went to Chevy’s for brunch. Hung out at the mall for a while (it was packed, why aren’t these people in church?), and then went home and decorated for Christmas.
Topped the day off by going to Lifetime Fitness and working out with Lori. I love working out with her, it’s the best date ever. Man, the stairmaster kicked my rear! All in all, my family loved just having dad around all weekend, it was a fun experience. They put up with a lot because of my job, it’s important to me that they always feel honored.
2) There’s a lot of people who don’t go to church every Sunday. It’s crazy that most churches worry about keeping Christians happy, and what Christians are going to which church in the community. The vast majority of our community doesn’t know Christ, they’re who we should be worrieid about.
I’m thankful that Palm Valley Church always keeps its eye on the ball. We’ll never be about keeping Christians happy. We’ll never worry about what Christians don’t go to our church. I know this makes Christians angry at me. We will always be consumed with the mission Jesus gave us, and that’s to introduce people to Him!
3) The mall was packed. People are very into Christmas, they just don’t know it’s all about Christ. Someone should tell them!
4) We’re having an impact in this community. Everywhere I went this weekend I saw people who attend Palm Valley. I heard cool stories of how people’s lives are being changed. I love being a part of what God is doing! Special thanks to the person who bought our lunch at Macayo’s. That was great!
5) Being a pastor is often detrimental to my own personal outreach. Lori and I went over and met our new neighbors, who moved in this week. Great couple, as nice as could be. It was interesting though, that he had already heard I was a pastor. It’s funny how word spreads ahead of you. I’m guessing he had been warned 
Meeting my neighbor felt good. It was an act of worship for me. I was simply reaching out to people new to our community, and I’m asking God to use that in some way in their lives!
6) We have a great staff team at Palm Valley. They didn’t miss a beat without me, and they had a great weekend. It’s great for me to know that I’m not really needed (should I be worried?). I heard about some decisions the team had to make w/o me, and I know they handled them well!
All in all it was a great weekend, and I plan to do it more. I look forward to being back next week to teach on Guilt.
