… and relax

I is having a day off today. They usually happen on Saturdays for me, but there’s a bonus one this week for having to work all the way through a Bank Holiday last week (Good Friday).

The problem is that I can’t turn my brain off completely from thinking about church things:

Who will run the new video system on Sunday as there’s nobody on the rota?
Conversations I need to have with people in the future.
New staff member we will need because of the imminent departure of a current one.
Who I will visit tomorrow.
How will Sunday services go (I won’t be there as I am going to be at the Baptist Assembly).
Will we have more people join our Alpha course?

Does this make me:
a. control freak
b. stressed
c. both of the above
d. a pastor

I hope that the answer is d. I can’t switch off being a pastor just because I am having a day off. I can’t stop caring about the people linked to our church. I can’t stop being concerned about sharing the good news of Jesus with people. I can’t turn off my desire that people will be able to encounter God in our services.

There’s a brilliant children’s book by Nicholas Allan. It is called Jesus’ Day Off . The title gives away a lot of the plot, but the significant thing is that even when Jesus is having a day off, people are being blessed. He doesn’t stop caring, blessing and refreshing others even when he is having a day off.

Lessons to learn:
1. Jesus needed time out. So do I.
2. Jesus never stopped being the Good Shepherd, it was in his DNA. I can’t stop being a pastor.
3. There are times when I need to realise that Jesus knew what he was talking about: “Do not worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will worry about itself”
4. Making notes of things to do means I can safely put them aside and relax again.
5. Must get out Jesus’ Day Off and re-read it… in the garden… with a nice cold drink…