In the last five years I’ve…

• Pastored a new and growing next generation congregation
• Parented three growing boys (now age 10, 8, 5)
• Coached various football and basketball teams
• Spoken at various retreats, conferences, and been a guest speaker at area churches
• Started and finished a D.Min. degree (click HERE to read about it)
• And lots of other stuff!

I confess that through the busy-ness I haven’t always shut down, rested, recharged, or listened carefully enough to the Holy Spirit. That’s why I’m going offline. I need to recharge and renew my body and soul.

Here’s a resource I recommend reading…

On June 30th Margaret Feinberg wrote a great post that inspired me: Why I’m Logging Off and Shutting Down, check it out HERE.

And HERE is her follow up post, What a Week Off Social Media Can Do For You . These are great lessons we can all learn from! Thanks Margaret!

Heading Into the Woods

My wife and I had already planed a backpacking trip for this week. But after reading Margaret’s post I was inspired to unplug and go offline completely. I have nothing in my Buffer, no Tweets, no Facebook, silence for the next few days.

Laura and I LOVE backpacking. We’ve been taking youth and adults from our church for the past 10+ years. It’s always challenging and painful! But it’s pain with a purpose!

However, we have never taken a trip alone, just the two of us. We’re embarking on a HUGE faith journey in the months to come, so this is a much needed retreat away to talk and pray and listen to God together.

We’re heading into the Shenandoah National Park for four days and three nights. We will hike 30+ miles. Our hiking will expose us to some of the park’s more beautiful scenery (including Old Rag mountain). We will see beautiful water falls, lush forest and wild flowers, and awesome mountain peaks and valleys.

After we get back I’ll share more about our experience. I’ll also share more about our upcoming faith journey.

That’s it for now. This is Ed Choy logging off! Thanks for reading and may God richly bless your week, as I pray He blesses ours!

QUESTION: What’s the longest period of time you’ve logged off from social media in the last year? What was it like?