I am just about half way through sabbatical 2024. I have had the privilege of attending three conferences and 10 prayer meetings so far.

HERE ARE SOME OF THE THOUGHTS THAT HAVE STOOD OUT TO ME DURING THE CONFERENCES AND PRAYER MEETINGS:

1. During this next season, believers must begin to cultivate eternal mindsets and put away worldly mindsets.
2. The next season will be about deliverance. Like repentance, deliverance is more about what you are moving toward than what you are moving away from. In fact, you will never be delivered until you have a firm vision of what you are getting in place of what you are giving up, and until you believe that what you are getting is better than what you are leaving behind.

3. Our congregation must begin to cultivate an abundance mindset in place of a scarcity mindset.

WHAT YOU THINK DETERMINES WHAT YOU SEE. WHAT YOU SEE DETERMINES WHAT YOU DO. WHAT YOU DO DETERMINES WHAT YOU GET.

REMEMBER YOU ARE WORTHY OF SUCCESS. SUCCESS IS STORED UP BEFORE IT SHOWS UP. LIFE HAPPENS FOR YOU NOT TO YOU. PERSONAL GROWTH EVOLVES INTO ABUNDANCE.

PROCRASTINATION COMES FROM SCARCITY. ANTICIPATION COMES FROM ABUNDANCE.

4. Your conflicts may be the key to unlocking your peace.

5. Life will bring you people and circumstances to reveal to you where you are not free yet.

6. Conflicts start inside our hearts not outside, but we spend most of our time trying to change what’s outside.

I  have also accomplished several personal and ministry goals during this season including:

Sermon planning for 2025 and 2026 (though there is a lot more work to do here)

filling out and sending in my ordination paperwork.

Reviewing staff budgets and submitting my personal budget for FY 2025.

Winterizing the chicken coop (though honestly this was mostly Kristine)

I removed the air conditioners from the windows at the Vicarage and started planning the steps to winterization. I also started bringing in some herbs for the winter for a window garden and planning the gardens for next year.

So far I have had one fire to burn brush….there are many more fires to have throughout the winter.

Yesterday, I took a couple of hours to mix and mingle at Winchendon’s annual Fall Fest. This event made Me feel like I was living in a Hallmark movie.

Amanda, Joe, Kristine, Sevy and I met up with our friend Paula and her granddaughter Leila and went down to visit the 205 vendors set up on Central St. Fairs are my kryptonite. I can end up buying a lot of things I don’t need, so having strong people around me to curb the buying frenzy is essential.

The town was mobbed!…milling and seething through the mob was like mixing it up at a family house party. I ran into Denise and her granddaughters who I hadn’t seen since the oldest grandy was probably three (she is now thirteen). I saw Walter and chatted with Andy at the Fidelity Ice Cream cart. I hugged several Rathier children and stopped at the Rathier/ Lambert booth.I checked in with Tamie about her husband Brian who had knee surgery recently, and planned a coffee date with Father Henry when I stopped at The Immaculate Heart Booth. I stopped at Nancy’s fudge booth and caught up a bit with her while earnestly resisting the desire to buy a case of her homemade fudge.

Actually, as you can see from the picture above, there was plenty to buy. I did well. I tried some of the leftover pies from the pie baking contest when I checked in on my daughter Melanie. I also bought a sourdough pretzel with cheese sauce from her booth (Winchendon Parks and Rec). And…

I bought these books for a donation to the local library…..and

this new walking stick to replace the one I lost at Kimball’s Farm.

What made my heart most glad about this festival, though, were the number of people from our congregation who were working for different town booths our just attending the fall festival. I met some of the members of my son’s Gideons outpost. I saw our friends and neighbors the Ash-Sears family and we said hello to our friends the O’Briens. As I walked up and down the street with my new walking stick..I was struck by the richness and depth of relationship I felt flowing through our little community. I am not sure if the change is in me, in our community or in both of us. All I know is it was a wonderful day in the midst of this wonderful sabbatical.