Vacation. It’s an interesting word. It means so many different things, depending on who uses it. The dictionary defines the word as meaning:  “freedom or release from duty, business, or activity.” Hmmmmm. Nice idea, but it does not seem to be my reality.

We are going on vacation for a while. It does not seem to be shaping up to be so much a “freedom or release from duty,” but rather a change of duties. For starters, Page has told me I am going to help her clean out the garage. That would send shivers up and down the spine of Hulk Hogan. It’s a three-care garage with “stuff” accumulated over our entire lifetimes. She wants it made orderly, if not pristine, during our vacation. Lord, help me!

Then there’s program and worship planning. Since church continues, and since we will be dreaming and visioning with a Ministries Council beginning in autumn, I need to do some serious reflecting about things like missions and ministry, age level concerns, stewardship and finance, programmatic emphases, etc. Those things don’t just happen. And, since there will be Sundays on a regular basis throughout the future, I have to (a) plan worship themes and sermon topics at least through Christmas and (b) get all that data into the hands of staff members who do music, publication, etc. If I don’t continue that part of my work, then Marble suffers. So, vacation or not, worship and programming remain realities. That being said, the responsibilities of those issues pale in comparison to cleaning out the garage.

Additionally, there is a writing project with which I have lagged behind. Now, during this brief break, I need to attend to it. That, of course, includes the most laborious part, which is spending time in libraries doing research. It’s really tedious and tiring, but again is a piece of cake next to the garage.

However, all that will be something new – not a freedom from work, but a change of work habits and priorities. And, in the midst of it all, we will make time for fun. A couple of beach trips. Light reading. Picnics with family members whom we don’t get to see very often. A handful of R&B concerts. Vacation.

I think vacation can mean a plethora of things, as I said, depending on who uses the word. Page is right when she suggests I would go nuts if I spent my vacation time just sitting. Personally, I need things to do. For me, it is about a change of habits, new duties, different scenery. A friend here told me his vacation is a matter of avoiding his office for a couple weeks and spending that time in Central Park, at Jones Beach, and in the library at Union. It’s not a matter of doing nothing. It is, instead, a matter of a new and different kind of daily activity.

So, enjoy yourself on vacation. Do something new. See something different. Challenge your mind or spirit in ways that are not part of your daily routine. It can be far away or right in your own backyard. Rest some. Play some. Renew yourself. But beware if someone you love uses the word “garage.”