Reflections from Lake Junaluska

One of the realities on being a clergy family, with two preachers in the household, is that we are usually broke. We both knew that we weren’t in this gig for the money, and so far God has provided what we need.

However, one of the things that we have had to do is to come up with creative ways to take a family vacation. We’re still paying for the Disney vacation that we took four summers ago, so for the past three years we have combined our family vacation with attending the SoulFeast conference at Lake Junaluska in North Carolina. It started off as a way to get some time away while also doing some professional growth that would be paid for by our expense accounts. It has become a family tradition that regularly gets on our schedule now, and I have a feeling that we’ll be coming to SoulFeast even if we come into some bucks to take a “real” vacation.

Part of the joy for us in coming is that we are able to pretty much let the girls go and exercise their independence in ways not possible in the hood. For the four days of SoulFeast, we basically don’t see Grace as she is totally consumed with being a part of the youth program here. Anna has a program to attend as well, and yesterday she even decided to walk around the complex on her own, exercising some degree of autonomy that we haven’t seen before. Kay and I attend the program, which is very good, however there is also a bunch of free time, and we feel free in this setting to take Sabbath as we need it.

All in all, we are having a great time so far at “the lake” and wish you were here with us.