Getting in the habit before I get out of the collar

Welcome to my sabbatical blog! As we have been planning this experience of renewal for me and for the Catoctin Presbyterian congregation, it seemed like a good idea for me to start a blog where folks could keep up with my adventures, and this is going to be it. The sabbatical doesn't start for another five weeks or so, but I want to get in the blogging habit, as it says above there, so it won't be boring and sucky for anyone who wanders by, and so I won't have to pull an all-nighter on day 87 out of 90, trying to catch up. I'll be putting the blog address in the church newsletter and will pass it along to the webmaster at the church site, www.catoctin.org, so people will be able to find it.

The three month sabbatical will be from August 2 - October 31, 2010. In that time I am planning a week or so trip to New Mexico Skies, a resort in the mountainous terrain of southeast New Mexico designed for amateur (and maybe professional) astronomers, one of which I am whom. They have a half-dozen or so big telescopes to rent for general observing plus four super special scopes in domed observatories for astrophotography and more serious observers. You can also bring your own equipment, although I don't know that I will. We'll see about that later. The other destination of note is the Iona Community on an island on the west coast of Scotland, where I am planning to spend a week in worship, reflection, and community living and learning. In between, my Dad and I, hopefully with our significant others, will tour around Ireland and Scotland. My hope is to find some evidence of the Douthett family having been in either country. I've found some things on the interwebs that give some ideas of where to look, but many of the records in the appropriate period appear to have been destroyed in church fires and such. Any way, this is also the home turf of the Presbyterians, so we'll look at some of the important Reformation sites, too.

So that's where I got the catchy name for the blog, "A Pastor Looks Up and Back." Up in the sky. Back in history. (Clever, no? Fine, you try to come up with an original blog title that isn't being used, especially when it's dinner time.)

The interesting thing about all this travel is that, even though I have three months available, circumstances dictate all the time away from home has to be in a five-week window from the last few days of August to the first few days of October. So, I'll have a month to prepare, a month to GOGOGOGO, and a month to recover.

I think I can cope with that.

Time to go home for dinner (I was serious!). More soon. As my brother always used to say, "Stay subscribed!"