Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy-Jig

Lordy, I wish I didn't still feel like I was rolling on the deck of the ship.

BE 4.0 was wonderful. I got to reconnect with colleagues from seminary, with friends from last year's BE, with blogpals I felt like I knew but never had met face to face, and I made some wonderful new friends.

The learning was good, and the affirmation of our ability to effect change in the institutional church and in our own hearts was just what I needed. Stay tuned for more on that as the days and weeks pass.

I came home to blessed quiet. The time on the boat was marred by the inability to find a quiet corner. Bad music from the 70s and the 80s was blasted in all public places from 7 in the morning to late at night. The salt air and the arm sun made up for it, and I had my handy iPod with me, so I could combat bad music with good.

Not quite so quiet on the parish front...a little kerfuffle that I hope will resolve itself shortly.

A good learning: having a wonderful leadership team at church and good coverage for the Sunday services and for pastoral care meant that I was not anxious when I turned on the phone and checked the couple of hundred emails that were waiting for me when I returned. I knew that there were no crises that other folks couldn't handle, and that's the way it is supposed to work.

Of course, I haven't seen the piles that await me on my desk. My opinion may change at that point.

But having six days of technological sabbath is a good thing. I came home just in time for The National Day of Unplugging. For a change, I was ahead of the curve. I won't be unplugging my laptop or my Droid from tonight through tomorrow. I already did it for six days. And as the Big Guy would say, It was good.