Then on the next day, my cell phone of three years died. So I had to get a new one of those. Oh my. The kids are happy because I have text capabilities now, so I get to communicate with them another way.
I started back to work on Monday the 4th by heading in full-force, with a 6:00 am appt at the local hospital for one of my parishioners. I was with them for four and 1/2 hours. BUT I wasn't the only minister out at 6:00. My colleague was at another hospital with another family for a major surgery. AND he was scheduled to leave in the afternoon for his conference/vacation for a week. So I had two families in hospitals, a sermon, and getting back into the swing of things.
By Friday, I had already worked 60 hours for the week, and remember - my week didn't start until Monday. My week normally starts on Sunday. AND by Friday, I hadn't even looked at the sermon materials or written one note.
I woke up Friday with my head just completely congested, with a sore throat and coughing - so there was no way I could go to the hospital or visit recovering patients. By Sunday, I was exhausted and I had to preach. Guess what??? I did something I had never done before - I preached with NO NOTES and NO PULPIT. I preached from the steps and it was one of my best sermons. Go figure. I let God speak through the Holy Spirit and oddly enough, the subject was on the Holy Spirit. If I work the link right, someone took about 1 1/2 minutes of the sermon and it's on youtube. But I post here for your "enjoyment".
I was so excited about what I did but crashed by that night. I couldn't talk and when I got up the next day, my throat was in pain and tonsils were quickly growing. I didn't even consider Strep because I had the cold, cough and congestion. You don't get those with Strep. By Wednesday though, I was hurting hard. So I went to the doc on Thursday. Not only did I have that congested cold, but I DID in fact have Strep AND Tonsillitis. Look at that folks - the multitasker at it again. I was confined to my home for the next two days. I slept most of that time away and it felt great. It is now Monday and I am still quite tired. I worked on Sunday and we had today off.
I am learning some lessons with all of this. I pushed myself way too much over the past three months and even though I had a vacation at Christmas, it still took a toll with the traveling and such. I was trying to answer everyone else and make everyone else happy and live up to everyone else's expectations. And where did it get me? Wow. I've got some decisions to make over the next several months but first and foremost - the decision that matters most is taking care of myself, so I can continue to do what God has called me to do.
So, that's what's been going on and lessons learned. Take care.
