How thick is your skin? Or are you thin-skinned? What would your co-workers and family or friends say?

When was the last time you were offended? How often does that happen? How careful do people have to be around you? Are they walking on eggshells, afraid you’ll either lash out or clam up?

What to do with this huge block of stone? It took months to cut it out and move it from the quarry to its current resting place. Now after two of the finest sculptors in the world attempted to make it look like something meaningful, they gave up. It was now thought to be flawed, useless, and an eyesore in the public square. It sat that way — unused, unfinished, unsightly — for nearly a hundred years.

I remember very little from church growing up. Our church was liturgical and I didn’t understand it. The sermons were boring and I’d almost always fall asleep. It’s one of the reasons I tell our young pastors, “It is a sin to preach a boring sermon!” And that’s why we strive to be engaging, Biblical, applicable, and inspiring.

But one thing in the liturgy I do remember…at the end of every service, the pastor would give the Aaronic benediction…

We had a lot to do to get ready for last weekend. Launching Hoist The Sail involved so much…books designed and printed. Videos prepped and recorded. Sermon series prepared and written. Even music written and arranged. All with a hard deadline.

I felt relief on Sunday afternoon. I remember sitting back and feeling, “Phew.”

And then, I remembered having that feeling before.

The Italians call it: “il dolce far niente”— the sweetness of doing nothing. For most of us, the closest we get to that saying is “just killing time.”

And that’s sad. Because boredom is good for us in many ways. I know the Amish saying, “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.” And it’s true…without self-control, too much boredom can lead us into bad patterns of thinking and behavior.

One of the highlights for everyone who has travelled to Israel with us is swimming in the Dead Sea.

I love to swim and had heard others talk about the Dead Sea. I've wanted to swim in it since I was a boy when I first heard a teacher explaining what it was like. It’s beyond description.