I am back from vacation, and as usual work has not stopped cause I was not here! Some amazing things got done while I was gone, our church has a new parking lot, worship led by Rev. Jim and Arlene Brewster, my administrative assistant kept the office humming, the preschool had their open house/back to school night. It is a wonderful witness to the work of the church when the Pastor can be gone, and the work continues. I missed being here, yet the opportunity to celebrate a 30th wedding anniversary with my wife was a priority. We had a wonderful time in Hawaii, and had time to ourselves to talk, spend time walking and taking in the beauty of the islands. Now it is time to work. I started the routine on vacation to ground myself in the principle of D.R.I.V.E. as suggested by Michael Slaughter. D= Devotions,connecting with God before the day of work begins, R= Readiness, that is reading to promote ongoing learning, I= Investing in relationships, those people that guide, energize and challenge me, V=Vision for the future, looking at the world as God does, where are we going, how does God want us to participate in transforming the world, and E=Eating and Exercise. I have begun practicing these each day, to transform myself to be a more effective servant of God, I have also challenged our leaders to look at each of these areas and begin to ground themselves in these practices. We too often become stagnant, stuck, hopeless about the future and our role in it, however, the work of God can only be done by those committed to the mission of making New Disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. It is work that is worthy of our very best efforts.