Several years ago, a friend allowed me to use his river cabin for a week to study and write. During that particular season of my life, the pressures of ministry were heavy and unpleasant, and I very much needed a moment of respite. The use of the cabin was a welcomed gift. I was thankful for the opportunity for the respite, and I was thrilled by the opportunity to enjoy this particular place. My friend’s river cabin had been the place of many church events and gatherings during my childhood and thus held happy memories for me. These memories, along with my awareness of how much I needed the opportunity to momentarily step away from the difficulties of ministry, filled me with hope, that the week I would spend there would be a blessing to me.

Looking back, I think I was in a more precarious situation mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and even physically than I realized at the time. The particulars and causes of why ministry was so burdensome during those days are no longer important. What is important is that every area of my life was being consumed by these burdens without any relief or space for other things. Though others contributed, the fault for this lay with me. I had not actively created healthy boundaries and space in my life. Having dangerously neglected my own need for these things, I was hopeful that a week alone at the lake would provide a lifeline that would allow me to persevere. The use of the cabin was a gracious gift. Even the timing of the week I would spend there was ordered by God’s grace. I arrived late in the afternoon of Labor Day. This is the last day of summer fun on the lake for many who have houses there. Not only did I have the cabin to myself, but because there were so few there after Labor Day, it felt like I had the whole lake to myself.

It must have been sometime in the mid-1980s when I experienced both the thrill of unrestrained excess and the brutal consequences that followed, all in the span of an hour. It took place at a wedding reception in our church fellowship hall. These were the days when most couples had their wedding receptions at the church fellowship hall, and whole families were invited to attend. If you are unfamiliar with this cultural era, let me briefly describe the setting. The wedding ceremony would take place in the church sanctuary. Following the service, the wedding party and the guests would walk over to the church fellowship hall. This could be anything from a building finely appointed and decorated on the level of the sanctuary or it could be a metal building normally used as a gym with strategically placed flowers to dress it up for the special occasion. The bride and groom would stand in a prominent place to greet each guest while everyone else enjoyed small sandwiches and other finger foods arranged on a long table in the center of the room. At one end of the table there would be a punch bowl and at the other end would be cake. All the guests would stand around with small plastic plates in hand, talking until it was time for the bride and groom to make their grand exit. Everyone would then line each side of the walkway leading out of the building, and as the couple passed between them, all would throw rice and shout congratulations!