Let’s go stay at my parents’ house! WIN
Ran out of gas in 99° heat. Father in Law had to rescue us…on Father’s Day. FAIL
We then get 15 miles from home when I realize I’ve left one of our bags at home. FAIL
So we do lunch (at 2:30pm) in the car. Drop the fam off at FIL’s house to say thanks for the rescue and hangout while I go back home. NO SWEAT
Drive back to FIL’s, then 1-1/2 hours to dinner for my dad. Caia spills iced tea on Kenni and my mom. FAIL
Otherwise a nice but chaotic dinner. WIN
Drive to their house…but not without accidentally jumping a curb and smashing up the bottom of my truck’s chassis. FAIL
Unloading, I get a stinkin’ moth under my bottom eyelid. FAIL
Annette has to literally pin me down to dig it out with a paper towel. FAIL
She loves me enough to pin me down and dig out a bug with a paper towel. WIN
Still hurts. FAIL

That’s all I remember.

I think my mind has blocked most of the memories to save me from going into shock.

So as I pack up a bunch of camping gear into the bed of my crew cab (McKenna’s putting her shoes on right now to help), I am thinking about one of the wins. What is it? Simple… My team.

God has surrounded me with some of the most non-self-promoting, capable, servant-hearted team-members in the world. They range in age from seniors in high school to senior-citizens. They’re creative. They’re consistent. They’re loyal. And they absolutely love serving God behind the scenes.

I’m trying to turn off the machine for a few days. So far…so so. I just finished my last ‘official’ to-do item in prep for tomorrow’s services, but then I’m setting up the auto-responder and disappearing to a non-disclosed location with my wife and my two daughters. And in my place, I leave a team that can do my job better than I can. It’s a MAJOR leap from 6 years ago when I was having to take phone calls at 6:45am on any given Sunday that I took off. Man, those were the days. The major malfunction in that span of history was big ol’ me, myself, and I. Your team is only as good as you allow them to be. And if you try to do everything your way on your schedule, you’ll forever be ‘unreplaceable.’ (And not for the reasons you’d hope to be unreplaceable.)

Kenni couldn’t be more excited about camping. She won’t let me pack her new Disney princess sleeping bag until tomorrow. And she’s talking about s’mores, fishing, campfires, tents… I’m lovin’ it. Tomorrow begins with me slipping down to Vinings Lake Community Church to lead worship with my friend Paul Richardson who will be teaching. VL’s sent several from their team on an exciting short-term mission trip, so Paul and I will be filling in. Then Annette and the girls are going to swoop in with my loaded pickup, and then we hit the road.

First family vacation since June, 2006. Hallelujah. Only 4 days, but I’ll take it. Especially when the weather forecast for our destination looks like it does!