My last post talked about the need for us to have margin in our lives. OK, so I'm admitting I wrote that to myself - not sure whether anyone else can relate!
I've known for some time that I'm an activity junkie. When you add the potential for an activity to expand the kingdom and I'm there. One of my biggest struggles is evaluating between the good and the best. In fact, Steven Covey in his book, First Things First says that the enemy of the best is the good! So I'm going to spend some time identifying where I need to delegate, where my time can best be spent, and retool myself to become more productive with a little less cost to myself and family.
I say all this realizing there are a couple of things I can't possibly back down on. So Lord give me wisdom and insight and help us at The Grove cultivate more workers as you continue to grow us.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Do You Have Margin?
My morning devotional from Rick Warren states:
A lot of people are on overload and headed for a crash. Consider these statistics among U.S. citizens:
• People now sleep 2 1/2 fewer hours each night compared to people from one hundred years ago.
• The average work week is longer now than it was in the 1960s.
• The average office worker has 36 hours of work piled up on his or her desk. It takes three hours a week just to sort through it and find what we need.
• We spend eight months of our lives opening junk mail, two years of our lives playing phone tag with people who are too busy to answer, and five years waiting for people who are trying to do too much and are late for meetings.
We're a piled-on, stretched-to-the limit society; chronically rushed, chronically late, chronically exhausted. Many of us feel like Job did when he said, "I have no peace! I have no quiet! I have no rest! And trouble keeps coming" (Job 3:26 GWT).
Overload comes when we have too much activity in our lives, too much change, too many choices, too much work, too much debt, too much media exposure.
Dr. Richard Swenson says, "The conditions of modern day living devour margin. If you're homeless we direct you to a shelter. If you're penniless we offer you food stamps. If you're breathless we connect you to oxygen. But if you're marginless we give you one more thing to do. Marginless is being thirty minutes late to the doctor's office because you were twenty minutes late getting out of the hairdresser because you were ten minutes late dropping the children off at school because the car ran out of gas two blocks from a gas station and you forgot your purse. That's marginless."
I hope you will commit with me to work on shutting down the presses, shutting up the noise and plan margin in our crazy lives!
Visit the Grove Church Website
Read other Grove Church Blogs
A lot of people are on overload and headed for a crash. Consider these statistics among U.S. citizens:
• People now sleep 2 1/2 fewer hours each night compared to people from one hundred years ago.
• The average work week is longer now than it was in the 1960s.
• The average office worker has 36 hours of work piled up on his or her desk. It takes three hours a week just to sort through it and find what we need.
• We spend eight months of our lives opening junk mail, two years of our lives playing phone tag with people who are too busy to answer, and five years waiting for people who are trying to do too much and are late for meetings.
We're a piled-on, stretched-to-the limit society; chronically rushed, chronically late, chronically exhausted. Many of us feel like Job did when he said, "I have no peace! I have no quiet! I have no rest! And trouble keeps coming" (Job 3:26 GWT).
Overload comes when we have too much activity in our lives, too much change, too many choices, too much work, too much debt, too much media exposure.
Dr. Richard Swenson says, "The conditions of modern day living devour margin. If you're homeless we direct you to a shelter. If you're penniless we offer you food stamps. If you're breathless we connect you to oxygen. But if you're marginless we give you one more thing to do. Marginless is being thirty minutes late to the doctor's office because you were twenty minutes late getting out of the hairdresser because you were ten minutes late dropping the children off at school because the car ran out of gas two blocks from a gas station and you forgot your purse. That's marginless."
I hope you will commit with me to work on shutting down the presses, shutting up the noise and plan margin in our crazy lives!
Visit the Grove Church Website
Read other Grove Church Blogs
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Disconnected Thoughts
The last few days have been a roller coaster of thoughts and emotions.
Wednesday Night - another awesome time with my small group. The questions and discussion that followed didn't even allow us time to study the questions I had prepared! How exciting it is to be among people who have a hunger for God's Word and to understand His ways!
Thursday Night - Pastor Igor in his usually humble way, shared from his heart in his presentation, "Christ In The Passover". I have attended seder meals in the past but Igor's sharing was extra special.
Friday Morning - 12 Grovers attended the Good Friday breakfast at the YMCA. A record crowd of over 120 people were led in worship by Vince Ricci and we heard a message on the "Cost of the Cross" by Kathy Dickriede a Methodist Deacon. One of the participants stated they were surprised as to how touched they were by the experience. At the conclusion a young boy, maybe 7 or 8 years old., Theo, shared with me that his middle name meant he was a Warrior of God or a Warrior For God. He then went on to say he had a prayer request. He described a battle he had been having with a brain tumor. He expressed God's blessing in that he was now 6 months free from chemo. I will be praying for him everyday and will remember his confidence as he shared his faith with me. How deep is my faith I thought - how well do I deal with the challenge of life with all my experience compared to a young boy?
Saturday - our 3rd annual pancake breakfast and Easter egg hunt. Record crowd for this event as well. What a great time! Many thanks to Marcia who coordinated this event and the many Grovers that worked so hard for it to go so smoothly. How rewarding it is to look into the faces of these young children.
Now I wait. Seems I do a lot of that. I have such high expectations of what God is going to do this Easter at The Grove. So much effort goes intov every facet of our weekend experiences. I want them to have a sense of joy over their hard work, I want them to be appreciated by others as much as I do.
But I'll have to wait. The good news is that I know the rest of the story.
Wednesday Night - another awesome time with my small group. The questions and discussion that followed didn't even allow us time to study the questions I had prepared! How exciting it is to be among people who have a hunger for God's Word and to understand His ways!
Thursday Night - Pastor Igor in his usually humble way, shared from his heart in his presentation, "Christ In The Passover". I have attended seder meals in the past but Igor's sharing was extra special.
Friday Morning - 12 Grovers attended the Good Friday breakfast at the YMCA. A record crowd of over 120 people were led in worship by Vince Ricci and we heard a message on the "Cost of the Cross" by Kathy Dickriede a Methodist Deacon. One of the participants stated they were surprised as to how touched they were by the experience. At the conclusion a young boy, maybe 7 or 8 years old., Theo, shared with me that his middle name meant he was a Warrior of God or a Warrior For God. He then went on to say he had a prayer request. He described a battle he had been having with a brain tumor. He expressed God's blessing in that he was now 6 months free from chemo. I will be praying for him everyday and will remember his confidence as he shared his faith with me. How deep is my faith I thought - how well do I deal with the challenge of life with all my experience compared to a young boy?
Saturday - our 3rd annual pancake breakfast and Easter egg hunt. Record crowd for this event as well. What a great time! Many thanks to Marcia who coordinated this event and the many Grovers that worked so hard for it to go so smoothly. How rewarding it is to look into the faces of these young children.
Now I wait. Seems I do a lot of that. I have such high expectations of what God is going to do this Easter at The Grove. So much effort goes intov every facet of our weekend experiences. I want them to have a sense of joy over their hard work, I want them to be appreciated by others as much as I do.
But I'll have to wait. The good news is that I know the rest of the story.
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