Kickoff Sunday Sermon
At church, we are currently going through the Ten Commandments. If I paid more attention, I would notice that the 4th week (this last Sunday), would be the Sunday of my first week of my sabbatical. The 4th commandment is “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” It was the perfect setup and what I needed to hear to get my sabbatical off to the right start. Before my sabbatical started, I had something planned every weekend, a todo list of over 12 things I wanted to get done around the house or on our cars and other odds and ends. Jarred, the preach at Southern Hills, talked about how in today’s culture, people have a hard time taking a break and resting. It was very convicting because I am the type of person that has a hard time sitting still and always wants to be working on and improving things.
Plans
Like I said, before Sunday I had many plans. Every weekend was full of Weddings, guys trips, trips with my wife, and of course – opening deer season weekend. My weekdays consisted of getting done the todo list which consisted of cleaning the garage, kitchen cabinets, helping my dad do some marketing for one of his houses that’s on the market, work on Childen’s Grief Connection website and am taking two grad school classes. I also plan to spend time with my grandparents.
I also plan to spend time with my grandparents. My dad’s side lives on the ranch and is getting older, so they need help with managing the land which consists of feeding cows/horses, checking fences and many other odd and end things. I plan on heading out there when the weather cools down a bit. Also, spending time with my mom’s mom which has been widowed about five years ago, but lately has had small heath issues and is getting lonelier as her friends get older and not able to spend as much time with her. Both of my grandparents mean so much to me as they taught me many life lessons and both gave me life-changing job opportunities growing up. The ranch I learned to weld, drive tractors, 4-wheelers, and jeeps around the age of 7 (probably not legal), build fences and enjoy the outdoors. My mom’s side owned an oil and gas company which my grandfather (that passed away 5 years ago) taught me so much about business and the oil industry.
How It Has Gone So Far
Children’s Grief Connection
The first few days have been amazing! We started the website discussions with Childen’s Grief Connection. They are hiring a third party to host their website and adding a CRM (Client Relationship Managment) software into the website and their business. This will allow them to track campers/donors/volunteer information easier. They are also adding an e-commerce part to the website. I’m also helping build part of the website for a fundraiser. They have been using another third party software to collect donations, but taht software as raised their rates from $30 per month to over $250. We are hoping to have the new software up and going which should get their fees back down to a more manageable place for a non-profit.
Homework, Book Study and Trying to Relax
I have begun part of my todo list but have also decided to take off a few things and try to relax more. I’ve also decided to do all the thing I want to get done-such things on the todo list and class work during the day, then spend the evenings relaxing and giving more attention to my wife. With grad school, most evenings we get home, eat dinner, then I do homework 2-3 hours per evening and have not been able to spend the time in our relationship that I wish to. Being able to complete my coursework during the day has been amazing for our relationship! We are beginning the book “The Five Love Languages” this week and look forward to spending more time with each other. I’ve also decided to combine a couple of my trips and have a couple weekends of relaxing or not scheduled and see what happens.
As weird as it may sound, I do miss work – especially the people, but also the challenging projects, working with sales managers, talking funeral homes, and that busy feeling. I enjoy challenging myself to see what I can get done in a day and that high of success – when I complete a project, have a successful campaign or sign up another funeral home with Social Media Management.
I hope to have another post soon with the more information on the website for Children’s Grief Connection and update on how everything else is going!