A Day Off 'x's 2

I just have taken two days off for the Fourth of July. I seldom take two days off in a row.  I do know that by the second day I was really anxious to find something worthwhile to do. Often I am told I don't really take time off. When I was told that recently I looked at the jobs I have had that supported my family and sometimes my ministries and here is what I found:

Railroad about 15 hours a day times six if the work was there. 3 years as a newly wed.

Low Pressure Boiler operator for building that encompassed a city block nearly w/o any backup except for vacations. That usually was with a weekend minimum of 1.5 hours a day,  5 days a week  a minimum of 8 hours except for one week off for vacation. Did that for 4 years.

Truck Driver while serving as pastor on weekends. Minimum of Sixty hours in Five days and 72 in Six days.

Full-Time College student as well as Full-Time school janitor and serving as lead pastor in a church with three services a week and a growing congregation.

Full-Time Lead pastor of growing church and 20 hours a week minimum counseling in an addiction center.

Single Chaplain in a  120 bed hospital who took call 7/24 most days of the year. Surprisingly I had vacation time left every year. My working hours did not include the times for finishing my training and for special workshops within my specialty field required by my training. The clinical part was 1600 hours supervised training in a separate institution. It took me three years to accomplish that on the side while preaching on the weekends as a supply person.

Sometimes I wonder why I have trouble with time-off and finding some hobbies. Then I get asked the question, When you gonna retire? Good question I think I will address that next day off.

Wasted Time

I was reminded the other day about how I had wasted my time a few years earlier.

 In my role as a friend of the local christian outreach to the addicted I had agreed to assist a person with their struggle to come clean from drugs. Of course it really was drugs and other addicted behaviors. I spent a lot of time with this individual but their self-concept was so low they could not see themselves as a success story at anything but failure. All my time and effort meant nothing in the face of his refusal to see what God was trying to do in his life.

As happens with what is called, "stinking thinking" one time he got down on himself and while down relapsed into the old life and behaviors he had struggled so valiantly to leave behind.

Now it is some years later and guess what? I was contacted and he is clean. That. is great news! Wonderful for me but even more wonderful for him and his loving family. I am so glad.

Was it truly a waste of time or was it just what I was doing seemed to be wasted? I would like to use this as a reminder of what we both know. Wasting our time on others is often the best possible investment of our time.

Exhausted by choice.

I was really tired last night. I couldn't hardly lift myself off the couch to go to bed. I had a good Easter with my church and my KY family. I had good food friends and a beautiful place to crash. I had watched the Louisville Game and saw the horrible injury to the player as it happened. It is the kind of injury you see from car accidents or industrial mishaps but not from basketball. It was a day filled with the planned, the unexpected and the enjoyable. All in all I should have been just plain renewed in spirit and body.

I was not though as I had a severe failure in technology that affected all my plans for the Easter Worship Service. The network did not network.. The printer was not printing due to the network failure. The copier all of a sudden quit copying. Sunday both tech guys were absent as they were with family or out of town on Easter of both. The trust I placed in technology and its availability destroyed my confidence.I struggled because I had placed my confidence in the wrong ingredient of the service. I am so glad that God made up for the lacking I felt and gave us a good Resurrection service.

When I got up this morning the God I worshiped and praised yesterday had given me rest just as he promised. I'm glad he knows what he is doing and his system never breaks down. It is even big enough to deal with my fretting over small stuff. Thank God for a great nights sleep and renewal.

Not a Complaint

I was not so gently reminded that I am not a very up to date BLOGGER. One does not need the brain of a Genius to make that observation. One of the reasons I have found I do not blog is I am to busy doing other things. Things that others said they would do is often more appropriate.
As a person in Recovery from Alcoholism and the concurrent personality disorders that goes with it I know what would happen if a person from and accountability group was honest with me.They would tell me to quit my lifestyle and stop my people pleasing ways. They would remind me of the huge difference between people pleasing and Christian Service.
I purposely and decidedly choose to live an example of Christian Service. I do this understanding  this group will take advantage of you as quickly as any other group.
What is equally amazing is the very people that would hold me accountable for people pleasing are the very same people I am guilty of serving in the wrong way. How could this be possible except that it is OK when I am doing their work. Go Figure.

Tolerance

I am joining some friends as they mourn the loss of their mother. She was a very strong lady who had suffered much pain in her life. She was a person of stamina and also one that defended her children with great passion. She herself could be in disagreement with them and  still she would defend their right to have a different viewpoint if you were to question their decision. It always led to interesting discussions when this becomes part of the conversation.
I believe in the world we are living in with all its talk of tolerance that her art of practicing tolerance is sorely missing. Most of the people I know that talk about tolerance are defining tolerance as a one way street. They require you to be tolerant of them while they by action if not word demonstrate a perfect definition of intolerance towards those who disagree with them. While this is practiced openly and loudly it is seldom challenged.
People that practice this style of tolerance need to read what the meaning of the term "bully" is so they can determine which name they want to apply to themselves.
Read Acts 15:22-41 to see how beautiful tolerance can be and how difficult it is to practice even in the church.

Just Too Simple

With all the talk of sin we hear when Christians get together it appears the church will go out of business soon. The sin in our present world appears to be concentrated in our churches. You may think that is a foolish statement so  please hear me out, (or rather read me out).

When last did you have a conversation with a non-believer and their main theme was how righteous they were? How often do those who are Believers talk about all the sin in their life? Maybe I spend time with the wrong people but here is their favorite saying, "Well, none of us are perfect!", next is " We're  just sinners saved by grace".  The last is so spiritual, "I'm struggling with ____________ , but you know none of us are perfect."

What if the church practiced the same forgiveness towards non-believers sins they practice towards their own. They contend OTHERS need to quit their sins and become BELIEVERS. All the while excusing their SIN and not giving their best for the Christ.

What if every time a believer had a choice they agreed with God that Satan was a deceiver and a liar? (His two best traits.) What if every time a believer agreed with Satan that God was wrong and a liar, (He never is.) they found it totally unacceptable?

Do you think that kind of reasoning could change a persons actions?  I do, but that is too simple.

Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so? Amos 3:3