Sometimes you have to consciously allow yourself to be refreshed. Psalm 23 describes lying down in green pastures and visiting quiet waters as one way weary souls are renewed by God.

How do today's Christian leaders find refreshment? How do they re-energize body and spirit? Here's a sampling.

Cowboy Heaven

Most Saturdays I turn on the Family Channel at about 1:00 and watch four or five cowboy shows—Bonanza, The Rifleman, The Virginian—with a large bowl of popcorn and a cola. I look at the wide-open spaces, and my mind leaves all the things I have to do.

I go to the gym to shoot basketball. I don't run the full court as I used to, but I play horse or sit on the bleachers and listen to the balls bouncing, see the kids screaming, see the guys slam-dunking—completely away from anything that resembles day-to-day ministry. It takes me back to a time when things were simpler. Laughter and joy return.

It's refreshing to do something completely different. My wife and mother-in-law ...