Breaking for Spring

Covenant's Spring Break officially starts today, amounting to a ten-day break (if you include weekends) that comes at a very good time to catch up on some reading, start three papers, and grade the tower-like stack of Apologetics and Pastoral Theology papers sitting on my desk (shown above). Toward the end of the ten days, Megan and I are taking the girls to Branson for a couple days/nights of R&R, but that seems a ways off in light of what lies just ahead.

A slight rub is that Wildwood's Spring Break doesn't line up with Covenant's (it's the week after next), so I still have to prep and be in town to teach my Bible class next week. But, as we had no real travel plans anyway (Daytona Beach with four children - can you imagine?), I'm just looking at the unaligned schedules as God's sovereign provision of two much lighter weeks instead of one empty one. And that works for me.

Growing up, I didn't have Spring Breaks in high school, and I didn't do a whole lot with them (at least in terms of big travel or experiences) even when I did at Mizzou. Looking back, I don't remember really needing any kind of time off (though I'm sure I thought I did then), as neither my high school nor college educations were half as rigorous (nor as complicated with a wife and four children) as seminary, which is why I'm glad for Spring Break now.

That said, I'm going to refrain from blogging during the break, giving you a respite from my various meanderings and letting my head clear a bit. Looking back over the last couple weeks' worth of posts, my topics have ranged from counseling therapies to postmodernism to education to immigration to social injustice - all a little heavy in their essences (though I hardly did justice to any of them in my writing) - and I want to avoid taking myself too seriously by continuing along these same lines, at least for now.

Granted, my provacative post on Daylight Saving Time garnered the most comments, presumably for its fiery controversy and paradigm-shifting brilliance (or maybe just because I put my foot in my mouth with my friend Chelsea and had to dig myself out of a hole with multiple comments). Regardless, the point I'm trying to make is that I need a break, and now seems a good time to take one.

So, check back in ten days or so and we'll reconnect. And, since I haven't done this for a while, let me say thanks to those of you who stop by on a regular basis (or even at all) to read my thoughts. It's a privilege and treat to throw a few ideas out there and interact a bit with you over them. I hope it's as fun and therapeutic for you as it is for me.

PS: Should you miss me too much and go through some kind of withdrawal while I'm away, I've posted our family update for the month of March here. It's okay - I'll be back (really).