Author: Seth Ellison

This sabbatical has been a blessing on my entire family. Helping out, resting, and reading has been wonderfully restorative. I’m hyped to get back into the thick of things, and start slinging some new API code for our systems. I’ve missed everyone from MIS. Excited to see you all tomorrow morning. This break was essentially the first time I’ve truly sat back, and stopped programming since the start of my freshman year in college! Ten whole years.

Thanks Kris for giving me this opportunity to recharge.

God bless everyone heading off on their February sabbaticals! I wish you all only the best, most refreshing experience of your work life so far!

One section of Proverbs which has always stuck out to me is the short and sweet list of things God hates. It’s not an exhaustive listing, but a healthy sampling of core themes repeated throughout scripture are summarized here.

1. Arrogant eyes
2. Lying tongue
3. Hands that shed innocent blood
4. A heart that devises wicked schemes
5. Feet that are quick to rush into evil
6. False witness who pours out lies
7. A man who stirs up dissension among brothers

Each of these are fairly straightforward, but one has at least a little room for misinterpretation. “Dissent among the ranks” is a common phrase, but it has a very specific meaning here. At first glance, you might think Proverbs is simply condemning people who bring strife to families, but the message is actually more specific.

“Brothers” in this case specially refers to the church. All believers are brothers and sisters, because they have a singular father. God.

Essentially, and very specifically, God hates those who sew conflict within the church.

I’ve always had a passing fondness for Proverbs, reading bits and pieces over the last decade. My father would often quote one passage or another to me when I was growing up, and seeing all of his scriptures laid out with context is borderline nostalgic. My youth was perpetually guided by a mixture of the word, and the soft-spoken insight of my parents. Having this time with them has only grown my fondness for their company. I love them, with every fiber of my being.

On the topic of family, we only just recently returned from a trip to the Great Wolf Lodge in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. The trip served as an opportunity for both some R&R, and a chance to celebrate my niece’s birthday. The road trip there and back served as a literal bookend for the event. I often read aloud to my family, and we took advantage of that time to read through a sizable chunk of Proverbs together. Pleasant reading material to share with the whole family.

The visit itself was fairly eventful, I darn near killed myself. With a hot tub. In less than fifteen minutes.

Heat exhaustion, or something like it has plagued me for the last ten-or-so years — but my guard can usually be relaxed when swimming. Cool water combats the issue, and keeps me relatively safe. I didn’t even give the little hot-tub beside the main pool area a second thought before hopping in to relax with my parents. Everything’s fine, we move to get out, and I see the light.

The light that is a bane to my existence.

You see, when I’m in trouble, my eyesight begins to flicker with large black and white spots. The spots last about twenty minutes, and are then replaced with a searing lance of pain behind my eyes, and an intense pressure. Paired with this phenomena is a sudden loss of motor control, breathlessness, and an inability to speak more than one or two words a minute. My fingertips go numb, and a pure, distilled nausea settles over my entire being.

This condition lasts roughly 12 hours.

Not exactly the most grand way to spend time at a lodge, but hey, at least I was resting. Technically. By lunch the next day, I was feeling mostly back to myself, with only a lingering headache. I didn’t let it stop me from making the most of the time. My niece and I spent at least four hours in an arcade, and far more roaming the lodge and taking part in various activities. My body is still sore from all the trekking about.

We rounded out the trip with a viewing of the new Disney movie, Moana, and then hopped back into the vehicle to head home. Proverbs kept us company through rush hour traffic, (yay?) and we eventually made it home in time to head to bed.

I’ve still got some reading to finish, and some final pieces of my project to finish . . . But for now, I’m just happy to be home.

I’m thinking I’ll cuddle up with my compiler for the remainder of my time off, and get back into the flow of writing code.

I think it’s about time I posted my first update. I’ve waited a while to make my first post, because I’ve been knee-deep in organizing projects of both a personal and sabbatical nature.

I still wake up every morning and feel the urge to get to work. A little push to make something of the day inhabits me. I hop out of bed, prepare for the day, and settle in under the warm glow of my computer monitor. Everyone has a talent, some physical, some spiritual, and some mental.

My talents only show themselves when I’ve got my fingertips pressed to a keyboard.

As such, for the first portion of my sabbatical I have been collaborating with Dr. Terry Sergeant on some new teaching material for students at HSU (Hardin-Simmons University.) I’ve spent the last eleven-or-so days organizing my thoughts, building example materials, and pushing myself to be as clearly understood as possible across a variety of guides. Never installed an IDE before? I’ve got you covered. New to Maven? I’ll show you how to master it. On and on the list of topics go, racing towards the horizon. There’s much to do, and little time.

But not too little. The power of the time allotted to me has already proven itself to be immense. I’ve been able to accomplish more in a week than I could normally do in two. It’s powerfully freeing to chase projects outside of work.

My time doesn’t only go into work, though. Not at all. I make sure to take hours out of each day to simply *exist* with my family. To talk, laugh, and share experiences. Every day is an opportunity to grow relationships. My father and I in particular have been able to spend more time together. His health is still not grand, but almost every day he works to be better. It’s slow, and I know the recovery process weighs heavily on his soul, but I like to think being next to him in the morning helps.

We’re going to be diving into Proverbs together as part of my reading promises, and I’ve already begun reading The Shack to him out loud.

My sabbatical is as much for my father as it is for me. I titled this post The Power of Free Time for a reason. I know I have this month, and many more moments that will be free to me in the future. My father does not have the same luxury. I cherish our time together, and will hold tight to this wonderful stretch of free time while it lasts.

Because it may be the last sabbatical I have with him.