I am pretty much a minimalist. I don’t have trinkets around. If it is in my house, it has a meaning or a memory attached. (Plus trinkets mean more dusting!) As I get ready to move on Monday, I go through every nook and cranny of my house. There are cards to re-read and gifts that I have been blessed with. There are things that need donated or given to people who will benefit from them like I did.

I stop packing and I begin to read some of the cards. I laugh at some of the quotes or memories people included. I am reminded of that funeral, baptism, or wedding that I officiated. I am reminded that God is in the details and He is using me even when I do not see it. It is a reminder that while I was only here 3 years, I did some good here in Jesus’ name.

If I can be real with you, the last year as a pastor has been exhausting. A financial crisis led to a church closing. Tons of extra meetings and planning. Decisions. More decisions. People acting weird. I continually prayed for Jesus to show me joy in the mud. And then it hit me during my time off after Christmas: relax.

When I came back from vacation after January 1, I started wearing jeans on Sunday mornings. I felt more relaxed. My preaching felt better. I rediscovered the WHY to why I said “yes” to my call in the first place. I had spent so much of the last year dealing with crises that it was difficult to see the fruits of my ministry. I took a step back and evaluated everything and I mean EVERYTHING.

Since moving here in 2020, I learned to take long walks up here in the countryside–especially in Autumn colors of gold, fire red, and burnt orange. However, I would continue my walks into the cold months of early 2023. The cold air would sometimes take my breath away and remind me that God is God, He is in charge (not man, government, or other groups), and I need Him A LOT! I continued to enjoy those walks in they were sometimes very conversational with Jesus and sometimes very still and peaceful.

As I close out my final days here, I choose joy. I choose joy over “this is the way it has always been done.” Nothing diminishes our creativity (and God’s) than playing it safe. I choose joy over failure. We learn from failure, but it does not define us when we keep brushing ourselves off and getting back up. I choose joy over what we did not accomplish in my time here and yet celebrate what we ACTUALLY accomplished.

This blog post is the first post in a series of posts on the Farewell Tour. The Farewell Tour is my departure from my current ministry position and onto another. Why would I call it the Farewell Tour? I am surely not a rock star and I cannot play any musical instruments. I dubbed my time leaving here as the Farewell Tour because I wanted to share a little bit about my final days here. Saying goodbye is often a difficult and weird thing. I wanted to not make this weird and wanted to be upfront about the process.

Tasks and timeouts are something that I have become familiar with in the last week. I am leaving two churches and going to pastor another two churches. In this transitional stage, I feel like I have four churches until I completely move. I usually do not miss much in regards to “tasks”; however, I have found myself missing some things over the last few weeks. You find out how gracious people can be (or not) when you forget to do something.

In the middle of all of the tasks of the last week, I have chosen to place myself in Timeout. Yes, THAT place! Timeout = the place you avoided as a child. In the last week, I found myself in the middle of boxes, transitional meetings and tasks, packing, more packing, and countless emails and phone calls. So, I placed myself in Timeout. I made myself walk away from the madness and take some time for rest and refocus.

The gift of Sabbath is something that I am SLOWLY appreciating as a pastor. I moved to my current pastoral assignment during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a leader, I navigated many landmines of differences in theological, cultural, and ideological opinions/approaches in how to lead others during the pandemic. I try to observe my Sabbath on Fridays and when you set a boundary with people about your availability, you truly find out how their view your role.

I don’t view pastors as mythical or mystical creatures. We are humans too. We are not meant to work 24/7. When I did my Clinical Pastoral Education internship at a hospital with trauma beds, the Trauma Doctors even had days off. While I think us pastors have an important job, we are not doctors and not everything is a crisis. We need rest too for our own good and for the well-being of the people that we do ministry with.

In the middle of a crazy week, I chose a Timeout. May you take a Timeout too this week!