Prayer and Fruit

Thank you for praying alongside the sabbatical.

An update on one of the three areas of focus is available.

Your intercession is needed, timely and appreciated. 

How's The Sabbatical Going?

Singing along is bittersweet.

Sweet is the wave of recognition in a crowded room when a song plays.  Strangers point at - even sing to - each other as if they are friends.  As the whole song plays, bitter spots emerge.  

Maybe the chorus is known or the air guitar solo can be played but the lyrics get fuzzy.  

Think Cyndi Lauper.  

How many really know verse 3 of Girls Just Want To Have Fun?  

Sabbaticals are bittersweet.

Sweet is the prospect of rest; bitter the truths stillness uncovers.  Resting includes facing the lies and difficulties that career busyness hides.  When still and alone, sabbath can include the heart work of forgiveness, the head work of separating worth from career and the handiwork of filling days with meaning.    

Beaches, piña coladas and sing alongs are lovely but music fades, ice melts and the sun sets.  Bigger and better versions of rest and recreation the next day are allowed because, well, that's what a sabbatical can include.  Sabbaticants, however, have to do it all over again with another group of people.  

Everyone from last night's karaoke had to go do what people who are busy working, looking for work or retired from work do.  Singing with new strangers is fine until a week in the karaoke buffet brings you back around to the same group from last Friday night.  

Don't you have a job? 

Long periods of rest, reflection and restoration are bittersweet.

Bitter is an employer's condition that time away has to be structured but sweet is the result.  Reliant, as a condition of the sabbatical, demanded a plan.  A few weeks of Bobby McFerrin impersonating were even encouraged.  As the midway point approaches, gratitude abounds for the many voices that kept asking, "...and then what?" when the only plan was a bathtub of bonbons during March Madness before a bucket of bonbons during the Masters. 

College basketball and pro golf were historic, but thanks to the Lord hearing the prayers of people, life is more meaningful than television.  Sabbatical goals include learning how to sail, writing another book and conversational Spanish.  Sailing lessons start in six weeks; blogging with writing coaches has been helpful.

Spanish is bittersweet.

Sweet is the recognition, among Spanish-speakers, of the genuine effort to learn.  Bitter are the mistakes and corrections from children and adults.  A community college class is working alongside a weekly practice group at the library.  Attending a Spanish-speaking church keeps a Spanish Bible open, but sing-alongs open a portal of understanding.

Think Chuck E. Cheese.

Chuck E. has an economy that allows prizes to be purchased with tickets.  Tickets are won by playing games and one of the games is the wind tunnel.  A child is placed inside a portal littered with tickets.  Wind stirs tickets into chaos and the child is supposed to catch as many as possible in the time allotted.  Some do better than others and practice helps.

Language learning is a game and comprehension is the ticket.  Each vocabulary word or prepositional phrase earns cross-cultural currency.  Listening and speaking surround language learners with fast-moving opportunities.  Plucking meaning out of rapid monologues is a skill.  Some do better than others; practice helps.

By God's grace, sabbatical isolation gives time to practice.  Spanish proficiency is increasing because Isaiah 55 is true, hundreds are praying alongside and something more tasty than bonbons has been discovered.

Fruit.

Fruit of Spanish study is bittersweet.  Sweet nectar of understanding flows from one of the Spanish worship channels.  A ticket or two from the chorus can be picked up, but reading the lyrics while artists minister is changing the game.  Verb usage, subject agreement and compound sentences emerge.  

Sweet.

Bitter is the periodic confusion despite access to lyrics and surround sound.  Reading along, listening and singing along still leave gaps.  Puerto Ricans call gaps in understanding 'las lagunas de conocimiento': lagoons of knowledge.

Think Venice.

To get from one building to another in Venice, gondolas are required.  Watercraft allow maneuvers beyond the reach of shoe leather.  Traversing lagoons of understanding requires a gondola of sorts.  So far, the sabbatical has been on shoe leather.  A blog erupts because the difference between walking and floating is the difference between the bitter and the sweet.

To move from wondering if the people are praying for a wild idea to knowing the people are praying feels like the successful navigation of a knowledge gap. 

Think Averly Morillo.

 

Averly is a Christian artist of Dominican descent.  Her content provided the lyrics, soundtrack and sing-along for a recent study.  Reading along, however, included previous studies.  Her third verses are bitter but the choruses are sweet.  

Known vocabulary was missing from her lyrics and unknown content inserted.  Feeling dumb is a part of learning, so at first the feeling was ignored.  Listening again, however, reinforced comprehension and a certainty Averly was doing something different with the music.  A deeper dive revealed she was remixing portions of her music in Portuguese.

Sweet is the ability to recognize Portuguese while studying Spanish.  Bitter is exposure to another foreign language while trying to learn a foreign language.

Sabbaticals are bittersweet.

Sabbatical Announcement

A forgotten cell phone stirs decision. 

Retrieving the device means tardiness, but proceeding without the device seems barbaric.  An author’s words remind:

Sabbath is trusting God to run the world while we’re away. ~ Kirk Byron Jones

From February 10 - August 10, 2026 Naudia and I are trusting God with a sabbatical.

Questions abound.

Reliant teaches, “A sabbatical is an extended time of spiritual rest, renewal, rejuvenation, reflection, and refocus. It is a guided process where one deliberately trusts God for the outcome as they disengage from normal ministry responsibilities and leadership involvement for study, rest, renewal, and evaluation of life and ministry.”

Three targets loom:

1. Increase Spanish proficiency
2. Learn to sail
3. Finish the next book.

More information on each goal is available here.

To schedule a time to meet by phone, video or in-person click here.

We are trusting the Lord to raise $24,686 for tuition, travel, publication costs and fees.  Information on how the funds will be used is available here.

You are invited to pray and give.

Thank you for your prayer partnership and generosity in Christian outreach among first responders. Together we’re trusting Jesus to change lives.