Author: Chris Gomez

Well, I am back. It has been a great month of new discoveries and insights. The first day of my sabbatical was tough. Trying to establish new habits and making sure I use my time off wisely was a challenge. However, one thing I failed to prepare for was the difficulty of coming back and maintaining those habits I developed over the last month. I spent so much time creating my sabbatical plan but didn’t spend any time thinking through my post-sabbatical plan.

It is not often that we get to stop and take paid time to refocus on the things that are the most important in our lives. So, when an opportunity like this presents itself, we should take every chance to make sure our time does not go to waste. Whether you have already come back from your sabbatical or are waiting to go, I encourage everyone to prayerfully consider what you want to happen when you return. If you worked to spend quality time with your family, what will you do the rest of the year to maintain sabbatical level quality time? If you spent time volunteering, what other volunteer opportunities can you be a part of? Will you fall into the same pre-sabbatical routine or will you use this month as an opportunity to build habits that will continually refresh and recharge you the rest of the year?

The sabbatical month is fantastic in so many ways. It can also be an excuse if we are not careful. The battle raging in my head goes as follows, “There was extra time in my sabbatical month to involve myself with spiritual things and volunteer opportunities. I won’t be able to continue this when I go back to work.”

This is simply just not the case. It is true that I have less time now but what is stopping me from continuing aspects of what I did during my sabbatical month? Reflecting upon this question, I realized there is really nothing stopping me but my own time-consuming bad habits (social media, Netflix, etc.). Eliminating or extremely reducing a few bad habits has the potential to free up significant amounts of time. I came up with a plan to help me accomplish this.

My post-sabbatical plan is as follows:

1. I will attempt to read the whole bible in 90 days which amounts to around 16 chapters a day. I believe this will be the best way to continue the work I did during my sabbatical of maintaining consistent and healthy spiritual habits.
2. My wife and I will continue to build relationships with people in our lives by stepping out of our comfort zone to meet new people and spend time with friendships we have neglected over the last year.
3. Less screen time. Social media and checking updates became a constant “itch” I had to constantly scratch. It was irritating and I knew it wasn’t helpful but I still had to do it. I have taken some steps at removing these obstacles to spend more quality time with my family.

These are small steps but I believe they will be incredibly helpful in helping me to maintain healthy habits for continual spiritual growth throughout the year. If you do not have a plan for continuing the work you start during your sabbatical, I ask that you would consider taking the time to do so.

Traveling is finally done and we are glad to not be driving anywhere for a while. Upon reflecting on everything that we did I realized that we met some really incredible people with a wide range of backgrounds.

There was Kathy who was traveling solo on a trip across the U.S. and staying at all the national parks she could. Then we met Mary and Peter, Canadian school teachers who were using their time off to travel the U.S. while living out of their van. There was Peggy, a friend of my Uncles, who adored Ezra. She said he reminded her of her own grandson. Jonathan was an artist that we met while walking the board walk. I asked if I could take his picture. There were probably a dozen others whose names I don’t remember that we met while traveling.

Every person or couple was seeking something, whether it was freedom, adventure, or fame. My wife and I would never have known, however, had we not asked. I had not realized it before, but Kelly and I have developed a routine (Ezra is probably to blame) that we rarely deviate from. This is great for seasons of life but is troubling when considering some of the amazing people in this world still in need of the gospel. The only way to find them is to step into areas that I am otherwise unfamiliar and uncomfortable. Of the people I mentioned above, only one came to us asking questions. The rest we started conversations with.

In Piper’s book, Desiring God, Piper defines loving others as, “the overflow of joy in God that gladly meets the needs of others.” He even goes as far to say that we should be seeking our joy in seeking the joy of others. It should be our delight to make others happy and encouraged. This is one of great things about working for a company like FD. Through fundraisers and volunteer work, FD works to bring out the joy of Christ to the people of Abilene. However, it is one thing to be a part of an organization that does good work, but what are you doing in your own life to bring about the joy of others? This is something I realized when talking with strangers from all over the world: I did not step out of my comfort zone enough in my daily life. Luke 6:35 says, “Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expect nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.”

How are we doing this in our own lives and in the lives of the people we meet?

This week is all about family.

After finding out that the annual family beach trip was cancelled, we were saddened to say the least. However, as plans would have it, my Uncle graciously offered to let us stay in his house in California. The trick would be getting there. With less than a weeks worth of preparation, we set off on a 1600 mile adventure with a 10 month old in the back seat.

On the way, we were able to stop in the Mojave Desert and Joshua Tree National Park.

Two days and 25 hours later, we finally made it and I am writing this to you on the porch of a lovely cottage about a mile from some of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen.

Even though this is not what we had originally planned, it was a great way to find a moment of peace and time to reflect on what God is doing in me and my family. It is also a great way to reconnect with my Uncle and spend time with him before his cancer treatment begins.

John Calvin, as quoted by Piper in Desiring God, says, “If God contains the fullness of all good things in himself like an inexhaustible fountain, nothing beyond him is to be sought by those who strike after the highest good and all the elements of happiness.”

There is great joy to be found in family trips, California, and seeing my son experience the ocean for the first time, but all of those pale in comparison to the immeasurable joy we can experience as we worship the Father. As Piper puts it: “Happiness in God is the end of all our seeking.”

One of the best things about this sabbatical is it allows for us to make time for the things we should always be making time for: seeking the face of the Father in everything that we do. My prayer is that when our sabbatical month is over and we return to “normal” that our lives would be anything but normal. Is it possible that our problem is not pleasure itself, but that our desire for pleasure is too weak? We settle for the short-lived pleasures (a new car, a vacation, television) and have lost sight of what it means to worship the eternal Father. May we use our sabbaticals to remind us of where our true desire can be found.

It has been a busy week! I spent my volunteer time with the Grace Museum working on whatever they wanted me to do. I had two main projects:

The first project was installing shelving in their children’s wing of the museum. They plan on using them to hold artwork and sculptures that children create while there. Dont worry, that is where they wanted them. 🙂

The second project (and much more time consuming) was to catalog book donations to the Grace. One donor had given her entire collection of 2000 books. I counted how many were paper back and hardcover. I also had to record the title, author, and illustrator of each book.

The week went by very quickly, but it was exciting to give back to a museum that I had grown up loving and spending so much time at.

In regards to my devotions, John Piper writes in his book Desiring God, “I know of no other way to triumph over sin long-term than by faith to die with Christ to our seductions, that is, to gain a distaste for them because of a superior satisfaction in God.”

My goal for this sabbatical is to rediscover the immense joy and delight that God brings to his children. It is not just the things He does that should bring us joy, but who he is. Psalm 16:11 says, “You make known to me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy and at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Our ultimate joy and pleasure is to be found in God and nothing else because it only makes sense. Why else would we seek fleeting satisfaction in anything else when God is allowing us to partake of eternal satisfaction in his presence? I am praying that God let this truth sink in and help me, and all of us, to begin living more like our joy is found in nothing else but to be in the presence of the Lord.