Departure
Everything on my to-do list has been completed: preachers are scheduled, tasks have been reassigned, and pastoral care has been turned over to our amazing team. My bags are packed and I am ready to head out on a 3½ month sabbatical. Presbyterians are generous folks. My church has granted me this time away to disengage from ministry in order to renew, reflect, and reengage in my faith and call. To be honest, I'm not sure what to expect. I have my itinerary set - I'll be traveling to Germany, Switzerland, and Scotland for the first leg of the journey before heading to Palestine for a month. Once back in the States, I'll fly to CA and OK to see family and friends. But an itinerary does not begin to account for experiences that lie ahead. Who will I meet? What will I learn? How rested and renewed can one feel when staying in different hotels every night? After months of planning and getting church leadership ready for me to be gone, I wonder what it will be like not ...