Vacation, Naked Barbies, and Sex Talks

It was a long, cold January. And a challenging one for us, so I did what I haven't done in 11 years of marriage...

I took Leatha (without kids!) on a vacation. It was a week of sun, ocean, reading and relaxing. I was working my way through Leviticus and didn't expect it to be the oasis for my soul that it was. Leviticus 25 reminded me that it's my pride that keeps me from not resting. Workaholism is another manifestation of self-reliance and idolatry. God seemed to think there needed to be a rhythm to rest- 1/7 days, 1/7 years, 1/50 years, and a few extended vacation/parties in between.

I almost didn't post anything about our vacation because it's easy for people cooped up their rooms reading this to struggle with jealousy and perhaps get the wrong idea ("Why can't I...?"). At least that's what goes through my mind on occasion. But I went ahead and posted this because I think in general we need to hear that it's not a sign of weakness to rest...
There was something really funny that happened on the trip- you can read about it (click here for iloveshelling.com). There was a popular shelling blogger that stumbled upon me stumbling upon this treasure on my first ever shelling exploration... (Don't get distracted by my muscles- I'm getting ready for a body building competition)
This sums up the last day of our trip, "Awesome...best day of the year"
Here's downtown Chicago from our plane. I was singing Rich Mullins in my mind, "We are not as strong as we think we are."
Last night Troy Nesbitt came to speak to Salt Company in the bar. The topic- "Sex". As always, he did an awesome job. You can find it here (it should be up sometime today on the saltiowacity.com website- click media). I also just finished listening to the brilliant Peter Kreeft on the topic of "Sex in Heaven". This is exercise and worship for the mind. Here's Troy at the Blue Moose...
I guess my kids could've used a sex talk. This is our junk drawer. At least someone colored a (Janet Jackson) bra on Barbie. She's getting ready for a half time show or something.

Troy joined us for our "Elders in Training" meeting this morning. Here's Troy in all his glory at 5:45 a.m. Troy is in a competition with a Cornerstone staff guy to see who will cave first on getting a hair cut. I guess we'll all get an idea of what Samson looked like (minus the muscles)

Here are the elders in training, minus Jeff Allgood and me (L to Rt: Jeff Thune, Aaron Hill, Dave Graber, Eric Bodin, Dale Mullikin, Rod Reinertson) on our first retreat.

Only 16 days between blog posts. I'm getting back on track to my 5x/week pace!