Take a break!

People in our world don’t have enough downtime, and it affects every area of their life. News flash! We weren’t designed to be constantly on the go, 16hrs a day, 7 days a week.

God used to talk to me about this all the time! Pastoring a large and growing church has all sorts of stresses attached to it, and for that reason a lot of Pastors that I know take a day off a week. (Sunday is a very full day – I typically have two services in the morning, afternoon meetings, night service. It’s often a 14hr day from go to whoa.)

For the first few years at CCH, God was on my case about it. “You gotta take a day off during the week. You need a break.” Then the Elders started picking up on it.

It came to a head one Sunday when one of our local “prophets” came up to me and said that God was saying that I have to schedule a weekday off into my routine. I smiled at him (perhaps arrogantly), “Yeah, God’s been telling me that for a while, and so have the Elders! But keep on me, because I’m stubborn.” I had no intention of scheduling a day off!

That afternoon a text message came through from the prophet: “OK. First accountability session. Have you scheduled a day off for this coming week? If you don’t I’m coming up onto the platform next Sunday and kiss you on the lips! There! That wasn’t hard, was it?!”

I haven’t missed a week since!

But guess what, along with other healthy practices I’ve put into place in my life, they’ve helped me navigate some of the most stressful and difficult circumstances while keeping an even keel.

Take a break, or my mate will come round and kiss you on the lips! You don’t want that, trust me!

Exodus 35:2 “You must do your work in six days. But the seventh day will be your holy day. It will be a Sabbath in the Lord's honour. You must rest on it.”