I love my job.  I know I say it often, but in all honesty, I couldn't imagine doing anything else with my life right now.  As I sit back and look at the other options I have had and continue to see cross my path, I become more and more reassured that the Lord spoke and I responded with my life turning down this current path.  Sure, it'd be nice to dine at fancy restaurants and own a house by now, but I kinda like my apartment, my roommate, and the $4.95 Chinese Buffet just down the road.  And let's be honest, what good doesn't come out of a $4.95 Chinese Buffet?...But seriously, I want to list a few reasons why I love my job:

I love the fact that I get to work with teenagers, going through the same problems that seemed oh, so big to me just a few years ago.  It's amazing how little advice they need to move past certain problems, but they just need to hear it from someone who isn't double their age. 

I love the fact that I get to work with fathers.  The short time I spend with boys and girls is made to look immense when you see the time I get to spend with their dads, but I can see evidence that this time is the most fruitful.  I know I'm not a father, and I know I'm not close to being one.  I'm not all that close to being a husband, and the former does not come without the latter, no matter what the TV preaches.  I know I'm neither of these things, but I do know the Bible has a whole lot to say for dads, that a lot of dads aren't hearing.  In my 5-10 minutes a day, I am blessed with the opportunity to speak Biblical truth into fatherhood and have seen men grow in just the past few months.

Lastly, I love the fact that I get to work with kids.  This week is a special week for me because it's Vacation Bible School Week!!!  I know that may not be all that exciting for you, but VBS is like "The Show" for me.  I'm not talented enough to sing, act, or be an MC for anything unless the audience is young enough not to know that I'm all but talented in said areas.  So every year, when VBS comes around, I get to grab a mic (or have one run uncomfortably up my back), jump around on stage, and lead songs and dances for an entire 250 strong.  It doesn't get any better than this!  I figure someday, we're gonna have a record producer's kid in the group, and I'm in the money, but until then, I'll just lay it all out there for those kids.

Every year, as Bible School approaches, there are a few concerns that always cross my mind.
   1) Are we going to have enough kids for a good crowd?  (This year, we broke 240!!!)
   2) Will we raise the money needed by the missionaries?  ($1,300 so far for the Merrills in Mexico.)
   3) Will the weather cooperate for our outdoor gametime?  (It didn't yesterday, but it's all good.)
   4) Lastly, will the stage hold up at least until day 4?  (I broke it on Day 2!!!)

Other than the stage breaking, and I mean 2x4's snapping in half, VBS has been a pretty smooth showing, except for one thing...I've been sick this entire time!!  That's right, I woke up Sunday, ready for the show, with a sore throat, no voice, and no muscular power whatsoever.  I was already spent!  But the Lord has provided.  Every day, I curl up at my desk and do the work, I shade my eyes from the brightness of the sun or fluorescent lights, and I drag myself into the gym.  From there, I let loose for 2 hours of flat-out fun, only to crash at about 8:30 on the drive home.

Does anyone else see this as a picture of their everyday lives?  I feel as though society has convinced us that it is appropriate for us to work so hard, so often, that we come back home and hit that couch in a nose dive.  It's as if we're programmed to put up a front for the ours behind a desk and at our social venues, but then remove the mask and turn into a piece of jello as soon as we get behind closed doors.  We run so fast for so long that we've no other choice but to break down and shut down our heart, mind, and body.

I know the reason I became sick this week.  I've been in overdrive for the past few months.  I've taken no vacation.  I've not protected a sabbath, or a weekly day of rest.  And I've been struggling to learn how to tell people, "no, I cannot commit to do this."  Well, as I look at the 22 hours of my days without VBS this week, I see the problem behind it all.  We were made to need rest.  We were made to take that rest.  If you're running in the red, and you seem to be surviving your days, I encourage you to take some time and recenter yourself, and focus on the one who showed us how to rest.

Taking tomorrow off,

Bobby