The PERFECT VACATION—FREE Instagram and other media–and an encouragement for your congregation, when you can’t do traditional vacations

The Perfect Vacation in Jesus, images and commentary — Though it might be challenging to take the vacation we'd like, in Jesus, we can always find the true rest and renewal our soul needs.

Staying at home isn't so hard when it's windy or rainy and there are schoolwork and chores to be done.

But it's a whole different situation when school is out, the sun is shining, and it's time for a vacation! We want out! We want fun! We want anything but feeling guilty about leaving the house.

But. . . . . . no, the virus is not going to magically disappear. So what do we do when everything in us screams we want to get out of the house, but our sensible mind, considerate of long-term health and family, says, stop and think a minute?

This is very real to me

After being a virtual prisoner in my home for almost two years because I couldn't walk, after my surgery to fix things, I couldn't wait to get out.

But. . . . . .

I won't give away my struggle and spiritual resolution (that's in the Caption/Commentary below), but it motivated the Media Made for You set included today. I am going to be moving these to a paid section of the website in a while, but I'm still moving pretty slow so it's all free for now. Below are

Thumbnails of the images. These are available in ZIP files with formats and sizes for Instagram, Pinterest, Presentation size, Facebook post, 600 x 600 jpg files, and MS Publisher Ready-to-Print PDFs.
A copy of the Caption/Commentary I did for Instagram. You have my permission to use this in any way you want if you want to use the images on a newsletter, print, or email or whatever. Please, however, if you use it, do not edit it. I am going to be doing more of this. Somehow the images and the microblog format of the caption space works for what I feel the Lord wants me to communicate now. It isn't the usual use of INSTAGRAM for many I know and I'll be experimenting with it. If you want to simply capture and share the image and caption, you can follow my INSTAGRAM account: https://www.instagram.com/yvonprehn/
Of course, you can also use the images in any format you want and write your own caption or commentary, or not even use one if you don't want.
Below the commentary are the ZIP Files for you to freely download

Instagram Images

Caption/Commentary to go with pictures—permission to use anywhere you want, but please do not shorten or edit

Caption/Commentary on The Perfect Vacation
by Yvon Prehn

One of the meanings of the word, “vacation” from Merriam Webster is "a respite or a time of respite from something; intermission."

I want a vacation! I want break from EVERYTHING! I need a respite.

I am tired of staying at home. I had my hip surgery and though I can barely hobble, and the pain of learning to walk upright is incredible, I can hobble, and I want out of almost two years of rarely going outside.

But then I remember Covid19, the pandemic, the advice to stay at home to be safe.

A huge heaviness engulfs me and like many things during this pandemic the idea of a vacation—the respite of being away from work and the familiar is turned upside down into a new prison of limitations.

Are hotels safe? And how do we even get anywhere? Flying is out of the question for a time—I do not need a press release to tell me they canned contagion capsules.

We could drive, but what about bathrooms on the way? I need one frequently. Many are closed, but even an open one is fraught with dangers.

I am seriously considering getting a port-a-potty for our van. But that brings up a multitude of additional questions I am not sure I want to consider.

Where do we eat? I love a Big Mac once every six months or so, but a daily menu of fast food is not my idea of vacation cuisine.

My mind is churning insanely over what increasingly seems less and less like a vacation and more like a labyrinth of complications with no way out.

Somehow, amid this, I hear Jesus speak to my heart, “Are you tired? Worn out? . . . . . Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life.”

I take a deep breath and I remember He is right here, right now, and in his expansive love I can find rest, respite, refreshment for my soul, no matter what chaos swirls around me.

The outward vacation of my dreams may not be possible for now, but the perfect vacation is always available, “freely and lightly, filled with rhythms of grace” in Jesus.