Taking Time To Decompress

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

A mentor of mine once told me, “Brian, as a leader, you have to balance long, intense periods of work with time away with your family to decompress. Get in the habit of working your butt off AND doing really cool stuff with your family and you’ll be in ministry for a very, very long time.”

I’ve always taken that advice to heart. If you're a leader you should too.

So, after working 75+ hours last week in preparation for Easter and preaching 6 services this past weekend, we headed out right after church to spend a couple days in Washington D.C.

The first thing we did was go to our hotel – The Hyatt Regency, just 2 blocks from the Capital Building. I got a killer deal (pays to shop around man!). The indoor pool was awesome (a must for small kids) though the water was f-r-e-e-z-i-n-g! Afterwards we ordered dessert through room service and then watched Monsters, Inc. I think I was snoring about 20 minutes into the movie. I was out.

The next morning we headed over to The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Words cannot describe how powerful those few hours were.

I thought my kids would get bored halfway through, but they were overcome with emotion. We just went at their pace and slowly answered questions. The pictures, videos, and relics from concentration camps were almost too much to bear. The last exhibit we went through was called “Daniel’s Story,” designed just for kids. At the end it was hard to hold back the tears.

Afterwards we slowly walked through The Mall, meandering through buildings and monuments. I saw this car which reminded me that there are still Christians working in our nation’s capital!

Unexpectedly, besides the Holocaust Museum, the highlight of the entire trip for me was stumbling onto The Old Ebbit Grill, just a few blocks from the White House. The place was packed, but I talked the maitre d' into giving us a spot at their stunningly picturesque bar. The Old Ebbit Grill, I soon discovered, was Washington’s oldest saloon (est. 1856), and our bartender, Marcus, gave us the inside scoop on the history of the place as well as the unlikely visitors that have meandered through its doors.

“It’s cool when the President shows up,” he said, “but the Secret Service comes in and gives you a choice. You either leave right then, or you stay until he’s done. If he has dessert, it can be a long night.” Marcus was the best tour guide we had the entire trip.

After our burgers we walked around the White House. The President’s annual Easter Egg hunt had just concluded and The Jonas Brothers, a popular teen band, were rocking it out on the South Lawn. Pre-teen girls were leaning on the fence and screaming, “We love you Joe! You’re so hot Nick! Kevin I love you!” It was kind of odd – you go to see the President and one of your youngest daughter’s favorites bands are playing on the South Lawn. So we just stood there and listened to the Jonas Brothers, for free.

One of my girls turned to me and said, “Dad, I just love Washington D.C.”

I said, “Yeah, it’s like this all the time.”