Sunset on Sabbatical

Sabbatical has ended, and I am officially sitting at my Bethel computer. It has been a wonderful three months. As the time away for refreshment and learning has come to an end, I have reflected on those months. I have come away with three major learnings, none of which will probably surprise you.

1) God has created a world of wonders. Kathy and I had the chance to travel widely in these months. We visited Florida for a couple of days prior to a short Caribbean cruise. A ten day trip to Israel was a highlight of the summer.
Twice we visited the summer home of my sister, Carolyn (the sunset picture is a view from her home at Ham Lake near Park Rapids, MN). Napa Valley and San Francisco were home base for a week. A weekend trip to Chicago helped to prepare for the wedding of our son, Chris, to Michelle this fall. And we finally made the trip to Door County, Wisconsin, staying at Little Sweden outside of Fish Creek for a week. I cannot begin to list the many experiences we had in these various places. I can only tell you that God's world is a marvel.

2) Family is a blessing. Kathy had some doubts that we could co-exist in a house (even with extensive travel) for an entire summer. I guess I can be pretty intense. But she was an excellent partner in all that we did. I am blessed with her presence for more than 36 years now. The birth of our second grandchild in July is an incomparable blessing--all life makes other blessings seem small. Joren grows in leaps and bounds these early weeks. We have had opportunities to spend time with all three of our children and their families at various places (Ham Lake, Little Sweden, Chicago). It is a great joy to be with them. It was good and reminiscent to spend a couple of weeks with my sister. And we have had even more time with our first grandchild, Jarek. My sister says that I am "smitten" with him. She is right. He will never remember this summer, but I will cherish it forever.

3) Bethel is the place I want to be. Kathy and I worshiped at many wonderful places this summer (including the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem). The churches were near and far, big and small. Most of the time the services were very good to excellent. Out of the 13 Sundays in those three months, we were away from Bethel for 12. The exception was the Sunday after Joren's birth when we had much family in town, and we all wanted to worship together. It would be at Bethel. And that is the best Sunday we had amongst the 13. It was a time of coming together with friends--people with whom we have celebrated and cried. It was the familiar and good voices coming from the pulpit and the pew. It was home.

So it is from home that I am composing this blog today--my work and church home. It is good to be back. The sun has set on sabbatical. The sun is rising in so many new ways.