We started our family vacation on Thursday, May 1st. It actually has several things attached to it. One of which is a field trip for our homeschooled children. The first stop was Butte, Montana and the final stop will be The Master’s Seminary where I will walk in the graduation ceremony. You can visit
LaNae’s blog to get each day’s details of our trip.
One of the hardest things for me during vacations is the disruption of our family routine. For many people the disruption of routine for a season is actually a good thing. But for some reason I actually thrive on routine. I love getting up the same time every morning and sitting in the usual spot of our living room to spend my quiet time with the Lord. I love going for a run after I finish my quiet time. I love walking into the house after a run to say good morning to my wife and kids. I love going to work by 8:00 am. I love coming home by 5:00 pm (or 5:30). I love doing family time after dinner. I love talking with LaNae after the kids go to bed by 8:00 pm. Because these things and a host of other things get turned upside down during vacations, I feel like my life goes from order to disorder.
I resolved that this vacation was going to be different. I knew that there would have to be things I would have to give up. Perhaps a run in the morning would be placed on the bottom of the priority list.
It’s taken me over 17 years of marriage to finally resolve to enjoy whole heartedly our family vacations. Here are some ways I plan to redeem this family vacation to make it more purposeful and enjoyable.
1. Stick to LaNae’s detailed plan (LaNae did an incredible job planning this trip, every activity was carefully chosen and planned out)
2. Don’t set the alarm for the morning.
3. Get up at the earliest by 7:00 am (unless everyone is awake earlier)
4. Do a family devotional time each morning in place of individual devotional times. (The plan is to finish reading through Romans and then start in 1 Thessalonians ~ this is what the kids would have been studying in Sunday School and we would have been studying in our adult small groups).
5. Listen to at least three 2008 Together for the Gospel sermons with my wife.
6. Read missionary biographies to the kids prior to them going to bed at night.
7. Eat a light breakfast and lunch when our day is going to consist of more than 4 to 6 hours of driving (this will help me feel less like a sloth).
8. Eat a light dinner each night.
9. Take the kids swimming to each hotel that has a swimming pool (they enjoy swimming, this is a good time to read a book)
10. If there is a fitness room in the hotel, exercise with LaNae and use that time to talk.
11. Absolutely, NO studying. Just some light reading (I will finish
Culture Shift by Al Mohler and will probably start
A Long Line of Godly Men by Steve Lawson.
12. Have a list of questions I want to ask LaNae during our long drives to engage in meaningful and light conversation (I downloaded some good conversation starters from Reb Bradley’s website,
http://www.familyministries.com/)
Today is May 5th and LaNae actually said during our hike in the Capitol Reef National Park, “you seem really relaxed.” God is so gracious to allow me to learn to enjoy being refreshed.
Much has gone on since my last post. We returned from our family vacation on May 14th, and I have to say that by God’s grace it was the most enjoyable, relaxing, and spiritually refreshing vacation we have had in a long time. We started off enjoying the beauty of God’s creation in Southern Utah. What a joy to be able to remind my children that the only reason why we were able to truly enjoy the beauty of God’s creation is because we know the God who created all of it. And the only reason we know the God of creation is because He chose to reveal himself to us through His word and through His Son.
The picture with these men from Spokane reminded me why as a church we must be committed to training men for full time vocational ministry. Every single one of these men will be going to different parts of the country to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to a world in desperate need of a Savior. And each of these men was trained for ministry here at FBC through what was then known as the “Men of God” program. The Lord has used each of them to shape me in my role as a pastor in one way or another.
It was also an encouraging time for my children to watch their daddy walk across the stage to receive his diploma. It was actually quite an emotional time for me as I walked across the stage, because of all my family sacrificed as I went through Seminary. Many thanks to LaNae who encouraged me to press on to study and write papers; many thanks to LaNae for reminding the kids that daddy needed to study; many thanks to LaNae for her sacrifice.
Jessica Hoch and Arianna Tobin coordinated a reception the Spokane graduates. Many thanks to them for putting this together. During the reception Juli McKitterick said, she almost cried when I walked across the stage because she remembered how hard it was for our family. I told her, I did cry as I walked across the stage. This walk across the stage confirmed that I was done with my career as an RN and am now a pastor. I am extremely grateful for the privilege of being a pastor.
