Benjamin is a hard worker.  Anyone who knows him is aware of this.  He throws himself completely into ministry; a task, a conversation, a project, and has a difficult time “shutting off” until its completed.

I love this about him…he is passionate about what he does.

And, this sort of intense work ethic can leave him tired, sick, or worse – burnt out, if he doesn’t take some time to rest.

We both knew that starting a new job was going to be demanding…a lot of time, energy and effort is involved in integrating into a work environment, discovering your role and learning the ins and outs of a new ministry.  And I can’t tell you how happy I am that my husband comes home genuinely excited and passionate about things he has done that day.  This is a good fit for him…a good fit for us.

This church…is…amazing.  So many precautions are taken to ensure that pastors get that much needed time with their families, time for rest, time to retreat, time to get away and be poured into by others.  From generous vacation time to monthly weekends off, I’m so thankful for the intentionality behind Northside’s leadership in encouraging quality “home time” for the people who work there.

This has been a crazy “ministry season,” as they call it here.  Lots of super exciting things happening in people’s lives, lots of God stories, and lots of work hours too.  This last weekend was pretty awesome…like more than 40 baptisms, leading worship for the first time in the HS service, hosting in the adult services…it was a full weekend.  So, when Benjamin had the opportunity to take today off and spend it at home with us…we all were pretty excited.

Benjamin spent the day taking Ezra to and from school, mowing the lawn (fun, right?), blowing up the kids’ “shark pool”, dancing with Calla in the backyard, doing the dishes for me, grilling dinner and taking his family on a walk/bike ride.  He and Ezra had an extended conversation about Justin Bieber, we ate ice cream with a friend passing through, and we sat in the sunshine and watched our kids splash in their pool.  He barely looked at his phone, he just now opened his computer…he was here.

It was a great day from start to finish…a much needed and beautiful day of rest.