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Confession: working at a conference is really, really taxing on me, to the degree that often I struggle to think clearly following a day filled with conversations. On Tuesday, we had the big day at SBC—the beginning of the annual business meeting (preceded by an early breakfast hosted by LifeWay).
By the time 11 am rolled around, I was fried. My day, like that of most of my coworkers who were present, had already spanned seven hours of continuous peopling. Some of them handle it better than others. Some relish simple conversations. But for someone like me, after having a few dozen of those, I’m ready to find somewhere to hide.
Then lunch time rolled around. I took off as quickly as I could, through the masses of messengers, out of the air conditioned glory of the convention center, and out into the summer heat of Dallas. I started walking to a great little café/bakery/seller of delicious food, ordered a sandwich, and sat down.
And said nothing to anyone.
For an hour and a half.
And it was good.
In all honesty, this wasn’t something particularly earth shattering. In fact, some of you probably think this sounds awful. During the evening when I am away, I am alone. I don’t speak to anyone, unless I happen to call my wife. So it’s not like I don’t get some alone time. But this was different. I really needed that time to recharge for the rest of the day. To recover a little bit of my stamina so I could represent both LifeWay and The Gospel Project well. And God provided with nothing but one-third mile walk, a mildly overpriced sandwich, and a café table with no one else joining me. It’s a small thing, but it may well be the greatest gift the Lord has given me this week so far. And I am grateful for it.
