Enrichment and the Super Bowl

I so appreciate our Elder Board here at Grace Church. They take very good care of me as the Senior Pastor. Last year, our Elder Board put into my contract 6-weeks a year that are called “Enrichment Weeks.” These are 6 weeks a year where they would like me to have a week free from all meetings, appointments and other regular duties so that I can focus for the full week on doing only those things that enrich me spiritually. This past week was my first Enrichment Week for 2009.

With the exception of Monday, where I still needed to be part of our service planning meting, I have spent most of the week away from the office.

I was able this week to be part of an anointing service based on James 5 for a couple in our church who are dealing with some heavy physical and emotional issues.

I was able to go out to Hershey Medical Center and have prayer with a wonderful couple from our church prior to a cancer related surgery.

I was able to meet a friend of mine, who was my youth pastor when I was pastoring in Indiana, for a long lunch to catch up on what was going in his life and in his current ministry.

I was able to spend many hours in coffee cafes and public libraries from Lancaster to Hershey for uninterrupted times of personal study, reading and internet research.

I was able to run some errands for my wife.

I was able to have lunch with a man in our church who has been helping us on our Worship Design Team and who will be working out of state for the next couple of months, in order to thank him for using his gifts and abilities here at Grace.

I was able to sleep in an extra hour on a couple of mornings.

It’s been a great week. Friday morning Laura, Jonathan and I will be leaving for a quick trip to Lynchburg, VA to celebrate our daughter’s birthday who is a second semester freshman at Liberty University. It is always spiritually enriching for me to be back on the campus where my ministry tools were learned and my ministry philosophy was formed. And to add icing on the cake, I’ll be able to take in one of Liberty’s men’s basketball games as they strive to win the Big South and make it to the Big Dance come March.

My enrichment week will come to an end Sunday with the Super Bowl. So, what is my take on the big football game? I think Pittsburgh is going to dominate the game in such a way that it won’t even be fun to watch unless you happen to bleed black and gold. On paper, I’m not even sure Arizona should bother showing up. But with that said, I will enter the big game Sunday with this as my mantra…“ANYONE BUT THE STEELERS!”