Be Sick, Use Your Vacation Days and Personal Time

 “The devil doesn’t take a day off so we don’t either.”
- A real pastor said this one, no joke

Oh. My. Word.

Don’t feel a shred of guilt over taking time off – it isn’t a sign of weakness, it is a sign of health. If you want to be around to combat the devil in a few years you better make sure there is some margin on the pages of the life you’re leading right now. Here are some common-sense-but-we’re-going-to-say-them-anyhow bits of wisdom for you to think about today:

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When you’re sick … be sick
If you find yourself falling below 75% health (sorry, I [Josh] play lots of videogames so that makes sense to me) stay home. Why make other people sick and infect everything you breathe on? Scramble to have someone cover for you if you have to and watch some Oprah from the couch with chicken noodle soup. People get sick, let yourself be sick and go home. Going to work when you shouldn’t is just plain…..sick.

Use your vacation days
We saw an email from a pastor to his church staff once reminding them to take their vacation time - they had over the limit and had stopped accumulating days off. Ridiculous, and poor stewardship for sure…and we both determined to get better at using our vacation time! Even though your salary stops you from that magical 14-day cruise to Hawaii – take 14 days of “Stay”cation and soak up your family, friends and kids. Take it in a big block, take an extra day here or there for a long weekend – whatever fuels you is best, just make sure you take it!

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Personal time
Now, we understand the pressure you feel to come in when you’re sick. And we can relate to the temptation to keep up with the frantic pace of your senior pastor. Church culture can sometimes frown on using the various days of rest that they offer….but this is an area worth going against the flow! Use your sick days, take every last ounce of your vacation time and use up those personal days. You….and the church you serve will be better for it.