It has been nearly 20 years since Jamie and I made the decision to leave the corporate world and go into vocational ministry. In many ways, I feel that I am at a point where my most productive time is right in front of me. At the same time, I also see how difficult it is to keep the proper pace in ministry – – to practice Sabbath.
In light of that, I have followed John Piper’s decision to take a leave of absence with special interest.
Notice that Collin Hansen points out it is not just pastors who are given to overwork:
But local church ministry is hardly the only vocation prone to overwork. Teachers, farmers, doctors, lawyers, small business owners, and middle managers alike feel the strains of labor that threaten family and spiritual life. Still, the threat becomes that much more dangerous when we work unto the Lord in taxing jobs where the cause seemingly justifies the means. Who has time to read the Bible, pray, listen to our friends, and care for our children when there’s kingdom work to be done?
Billy Graham might be the most recent patron saint of evangelical exhaustion. His preaching schedule kept him away from his family for much of every year for decades. Due to work, Graham missed the birth of his first child, daughter Gigi, in 1945. Meanwhile, his celebrity status grew so intense that his family sometimes crawled around their home in Montreat, North Carolina, just to avoid the curious gaze of tourists who visited by the busload.
