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scots cow

8th July is my last Sunday at Penno for two months. The church has graciously offered me six-weeks Sabbatical leave, which I will be combining with two weeks of annual leave starting tomorrow.

I’m almost embarrassed to take up the offer, but I also know there is much godly wisdom behind it.

We should all practice a regular weekly Sabbath – a time of rest from our labour, a time to worship, reflect, and enjoy relationship with God and others. After so long at Penno, it will be good for Anna and myself to have an extended, intentional time out to reassess God’s call on our lives and recharge our batteries. I also believe it will be good for the church to hopefully enjoy life without your Lead Pastor who has been hanging around for the past sixteen years.

So what will I be doing? Next week, I will audit an intensive Masters Course ‘Chaplaincy & Spiritual Care – Extending the Mission of the Church’ at Morling College. Then on the 17th July, Anna and I fly to Scotland for a six week stay in the historic, seaside university town of St. Andrews. We hope to stop, smell some roses, breathe the air, go for walks, attend the local Baptist Church on Sunday, pray and live and read and rest. We might also do the odd adventure, visit my friend, Rod Earnshaw, at Gateshead, and perhaps even pay Judith Lecompte a visit in Belgium.

Remember us in your prayers, as we remember you. Who knows what lies ahead? God does!

Keep trusting Jesus. I look forward to seeing you again in September.