What I Learned or Remembered While on Vacation

1. Warner Bros Studio tour is a rip-off (Julie would disagree, but the only thing that impressed me about the tour was getting to sit on the "Friends" couch.

2. A picture isn't always worth 1000 words (it looked nothing like their website!!)... a.k.a., don't try a 2.5 star hotel on Priceline in San Diego in August. We have had really good luck with hotels on priceline until this one - I think we've been spoiled, but for the small price difference, we'll stick to the 3-4* and book around the holiday and end-of-summer times.

3. Its REALLY hot in Phoenix. You forget this while living here but it comes back to you quickly as you drive home after a week near the beach in the 70's!

4. I'm not as young as I used to be... I can remember driving 18-20 hours back and forth to college no problems, and that was after staying up all night to study for finals the night before (sorry Mom, but I'm sure you're glad you didn't know that back then anyway.) I was really struggling the last hour of the of the 5 hour drive to O.C., and that was after a good night sleep.

5. I love my kids - While I love getting away without them sometimes, I miss having them around and am very ready to see them again.

6. Our parents are the greatest - they often watch the kids for us to get away for a short or sometimes longer vacation. Met some old friends friends that had their kids on vacation with them and have never had a vacation without kids (6 years) even though both their parents live close by. Thanks Mom & Dad and Nat & Sherry.

7. I love spending time with my wife! Julie is so much fun to be with and our vacations alone remind me of the fun times we had in our previous life without the cares and responsibilities we have now.

8. I need to rest & slow down more often - like every week. Ok, not necessarily a vacation, but seriously, I spent some time reading and studying about the sabbath this week. Can you imagine God resting on the 7th day (not because he was tired and needed it, but as an example for us) and his command for Moses and the Israelites to remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. I know I can get so busy and fill every day to the max with things to do and work that needs to be done. I know I need to do better at getting back to remembering and setting aside the sabbath day, not as a ritual or rule, but as a lifestyle that puts God 1st and not my schedule or to-do list, and soaking in the rest that comes from putting Him 1st above all else.

Jesus said in Matthew 11:28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Geneis 2:2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from (OR CEASED) all his work.

Exodus 20:8-11
8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.