Pastor Ron's Sabbatical - Entry #2: CRASSSHHHH and Pastor's Gathering in NAV Centre

Welcome back.  : )
Well, my sabbatical is over now. 
Back to work and all that. 

Thought some of you might like to know what I was up to for the rest of my sabbatical (a bit more detail than on my FB page).   
So, I've prepared 6 other entries that cover the highlights. Read them if you like (or just skip the words and look at the pictures  : ) ).  
I hope you enjoy reading about what I did and what I learned while away. 

CRRRAAAAASSSSHHHH!!

So let's start with April 30th.  
I was on my way to Montreal to Preach when I received a call in my car from my son.

He, Sarah, and Christine and her son were being driven by Joycegina to church for playing in church that morning with the Youth Praise Team.
    
He informed me that they had been involved in a serious car accident on their way to church, and that our van was pretty much totaled.  
He didn't actually tell me if everyone was ok, to which I calmly asked him that question. 
Thankfully they all seemed ok.  
At their assent, I continued on to Montreal and preached and returned home.  

Everyone was home by the time I got home.  
I had received some pictures of the van shortly after the accident and it sure looked pretty bad.  The air bags did their job and saved lives. 
I can say now that everyone is pretty much recovered, with some physio and Chiro needed to realign things.  Could have been a lot worse. 
Below are some pictures of the accident scene and the van in the compound.  
Oh, and in the end we discovered that the other driver ran a red light.  Traffic camera's don't lie thankfully.  

The impact zone.
Sarah bore the brunt of the impact, but was only shaken and bruised.    

Tore the van door pretty much off

The van spun 270 degrees and came to rest against the traffic light pole, causing the front end to crumple.  

So much for a front tire.  

The accident scene with the other van.  

Where the van came to rest.  

The van ended up on an angle as well.  Was hard to get the passenger door open to get Chris out. 

To whomever invented side impact air bags, THANK YOU!

Three ambulances showed up and all accident members were taken to the hospital just as a precaution. 

Joycegina still in the van I think. 

The damage to the other van. 

Time to let the tow truck take it away.  

Life is short.  
Hug your wife and kids and cherish every day! 

Pastor's Gathering in NAV Centre in Cornwall

As part of my sabbatical, the next day Joycegina and I were scheduled to attend our Classis Eastern Canada (West side) Pastor's Gathering in the NAV centre near Corwnall. 
Joycegina still wanted to go, so we did.

This gathering happens every couple of years, and/or as grants become available.   

The NAV centre is a wonderful place to gather.  
The accommodations are simple, yet nice, and the food is amazing.  Oh, and yes, of course, the fellowship is wonderful too.  : )

As part of the grant, we need to pick at theme for the year.  This year's was focused on leadership.  More particularly leadership from those places that cause us anxiety.  We are going through the book Leading with a Limp in our monthly gatherings and it is generating some good discussion.  

For this time away we invited Cynthia and Sue to come out and share with us something called the Enneagram.  
Cynthia is my Spiritual Director, and in our conversations this retreat came up, and she suggested we study the Enneagram as a group.  

Both Cynthia and Sue have been trained in the Narrative Tradition of the Enneagram. This training emphasizes spiritual growth and compassionate, psychological understanding of ourselves and others. Our time together emphasized experiential learning in order to more fully understand ourselves, our spouses and those we serve in ministry.   
If you want to look a bit deeper into what the Ennegram is all about, click on this link. 

https://www.enneagramworldwide.com/

We gathered in a conference room for our group sessions. 

A nice group of Pastors and spouses attended.  

There are 9 different types when it comes to the Enneagram.  You will see a more comprehensive diagram on the web site, but this one is pretty good. 
I found out I'm a 6.  
Made perfect sense to me once I discovered my type. 
The key is knowing that type, how to live out of that type, and ways to live/work in that type that are positive. 
If you read about the 6, you'll learn some things about me that I knew already, but hadn't yet put onto meaningful words.  : ) and some things I do may make more sense to you now as well.  : )  
Go to the web site and see if you can figure out your type.   

This was a nice saying put on the wall to encourage us to be open and vulnerable.  

More on the different types from a values perspective.  

The types can be grouped as well.  
A nice way to summarize them.  

Some sayings that describe each type.  
We spent a lot of time going through each type and it was fun to see people figure out which one they were and have the internal self awareness lights go on.  

It wasn't all work. 
We spent one evening playing games. 

I tried my hand at Dutch Blitz. 
I hate that game.  : ) 
Way to fast for me. 

We also spent time relaxing in the pub and getting to know each other.  

I end with Joe.  : )  Such a comic. 

Janene didn't seem to think so.  
All in all it was a great time together of learning about who we are, why we do what we do, how the other types work, and how we can work with them. 
It was good for our spouses to learn about us, and vice versa.  
Thanks Cynthia and Sue for coming out, and thanks for all who participated.   

I end with a group shot.