months later...

Its now March, the snow has aspirations of leaving some day and the sky has once again turned blue...which reminds me of Phoenix. Which takes me back to sabbatical and this blogging experience. I realize I owe an apology for not making good on my promise in December to write shortly after we returned to Winnipeg, I do apologize, but offer not good excuse for not writing. I could say laziness, or business--sometimes they are one and the same, or I could say I was in culture shock coming home (somewhat true), or I could say I simply didn't feel like I had much to say. Either way, it didn't happen but I want to fulfill my promise. So first of all, let me give you some bits and pieces from our talk at Gospel Mennonite Church in February that summarizes the things we learned and some of the highlights:

• I spent a lot of time reading, and what I enjoyed the most was reading the gospels. I read a lot of other books from men and women, debating tough subject in our churches today, but nothing enlightened, refreshed and guided me better than reading the gospels. I read Mathew and Mark, and since coming home, have been studying Hebrews as a follow up to Mathew.

• Uno’s pizza in Chicago is the best pizza there
• Children are more flexible than adults

• We learnt what its like to be new at a church, to not know anyone in a church and unsure of who you can trust with your kid. Came to appreciate websites and good info available for parents

• Never buy your child a musical instrument for a long car ride…Listening to the itsy bitsy spider for 4 hours on the drive in the middle of the night almost pushed me over the edge of insanity

• Throughout scripture there seems to be two institutions that God has specifically created with specific directions—marriage and the church.
  

• Exercise. When I exercise, I can think clearly, feel better about myself and find life richer. It is also a way of developing self control, I find my mind and my body crave things that are not good for it and to discipline my body to exercise is a small way of ‘beating my body’ into obedience to Christ.

• Contentment is not found in where you live, what you own, who you live with or even what you do for a living. Rather, with Christ, it is true that nothing else really satisfies, but contentment is a constant choice
• Much of what the world offers is blindly deceptive. From power (Washington) to entertainment (Hollywood), both seem frail and shallow.
  

• As Christians, we are exiles. Our home is with other believers, and with the Lord Himself. We are in constant travel and change, we look forward to the future and do not set our desires to settle on this earth

• Those who love have chosen better than those who think they are right. 1 Corinthians 13—faith, hope and love…but the greatest is love

• Don’t hold on to your life so tightly that if God asks to have it you can’t let go.

• Hospitality gives life

• A conscious choice to live simply bears tremendous fruit in marriage and in children

• Living in a dangerous neighborhood is not as dangerous as you think

• “I decided to approach my gospel opportunities as if they were friendly conversations about my favorite topic.”
• Laughter is healing.
• All progress involves change, but not all change involves progress
• Your past should be a foundation not an anchor
• Lighten up—pastors take themselves too seriously

Top 5 books Ken read while on Sabbatical:

• Crazy Love: Francis Chan
• Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God: J.I. Packer
• On Being a Pastor: Alistair Begg
• Outliers: Malcolm Gladwell
• When Helping Hurts: Brian Fikkert, Steve Corbett

Well, there was lots more. If you read the blog, you got a good picture of what we did and what we saw. Many of our highlights are listed here. I am contemplating writing some more on this blog for the next couple months (I promise), more as a way of 'finishing off' our sabbatical and talking about the things learned and now applied. There won't be a lot of fun pics of us from here on in, rather chatty stuff though. Now, I'm not sure how many of you are actually going to check out this blog, so as a test, I will buy any choice of drink at starbucks for the first person who comments on this page. I will check it frequently. My next post will be some more pieces of our debrief at GMC--stuff we're thankful for from sabbatical.

ken