Posts

Clear Your Head!

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"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." ~Philippians 4:6 I did something last week I'd never done before--I took a day off from work (both jobs), left the house early in the morning, and spent most of the day in a local park. I took a cooler full of water, my Bible, and a journal.  And that was it.  No phone.  No iPad.  Nothing that would distract me from what I needed to do.  I really needed to clear my head. I work a full-time job, and about six months ago, I became a part-time bi-vocational pastor of a small town Baptist church. It's been a challenge balancing my time between those two roles, and making sure I still have time for my family and keeping the yard mowed. But I've sure enjoyed it.  I like to be busy.  And I've found a pretty good balance. I have time enough to do everything I need to do as a pastor, but I just don't have enough time to do everything

Hurry Up And Worry!

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" Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." ~Matthew 6:34 I used to often feel like I was jogging through my day.  I had too many meetings.  I had too many responsibilities. I had things I was worrying about from yesterday, things I was worrying about that day, and I was already worrying about things that were on my calendar for tomorrow and next week and next month!  And what happens when you're always in a rush and distracted? You wind up making mistakes.  You miss things.  You wind up spending unnecessary time fixing something you messed up because you weren't focused on what you were doing.  I think the most powerful idea in this verse is the idea that today already has its quota of worry built into it.  Focus on where you're at!  Focus on what you're doing right now!  Focus on what you can control! You can't change what happened in the past.  Move on from that.  And worrying

Dealing With Conflict

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 "Whoever would foster love covers over an offense, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends."    ~Proverbs 17:9 Sometimes we have difficult relationships in our life.  We have people that we interact with that we have a long and rocky history with.  It's easy in those situations to keep going back to old disagreements every time we have a problem with them rather than just dealing with the current issue. If we want to have peace in our life, we have to learn to let things go.  We have to learn to get over past hurts.  That's not always easy, but if we don't learn to do that, all we're doing is ripping the bandage off every single wound that person has ever given us from the very beginning of our relationship every time we have even a minor disagreement.  Instead of just dealing with the one problem we're dealing with today, we're fighting every fight we've ever had with them all over again.   It may sound crazy, but I know there'

Another Look At "The Golden Rule"

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So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. ~Matthew 7:12 It's such a simple rule--the "Golden Rule."  Just think of all the pain and anger and frustration and disappointment that could be avoided if we'd just follow that simple idea to treat other people the way we want to be treated.  But it's more than just that.  If you look at that first part, it says "so in everything." In everything?  What's that mean?   Well, it means we're not just talking about being nice to people.  We're talking about empathy.  It means putting yourself in the place of other people. It's not difficult for us to come up with a lot of reasons why we think we have the right to be rotten to somebody.  He was rotten to me first.  He has it coming.  What's good for the goose . . .  We can use all those reasons to "justify" treating somebody in a way we certainly wouldn't want to be

The Myth of Multitasking

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I'm a pretty busy person.  I work full time.  I pastor a church part-time.  I have a big yard I keep up.  A wife and two daughters.  A couple dogs.  And I write quite a bit (and not just sermons).  I have plenty to do.  I get asked every once in awhile how I manage that.  I used to pride myself in the ability to do numerous things all at once.  I was a skilled practitioner of multitasking.  I made my calls during drive time to and from work.  I could answer texts during staff meetings.  I'd keep right on working on a spreadsheet while I was on a group call.  And I'd jump from project to project during the day making progress on each project every single day.   And then one day, harried and exhausted, I realized that multitasking was a myth.  It didn't make me more productive, it made me less productive.  I'd miss important details in a meeting because I was texting during that part.  I'd forget something I was supposed to do from a call because I was driving at

Learning To Unplug The Tech and Reconnect To Life!

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Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful ~Colossians 3:15 (NIV) I was working at the church last week, and the secretary said I had a call.  I took it, and as I'm talking I got up from behind the desk to go get another cup of coffee, and about three steps from my desk, the phone went flying out of my hand!  The church still has a land line.  For you youngsters, that means the phone is hooked to the wall with a cord.  I grew up with those, but how quickly I had forgotten the limitations of that cord.  I remember that freedom of getting my first cellular phone--being able to walk and talk and make a call or get a call anywhere.  The possibilities seemed limitless on what I would be able to accomplish with this miraculous new tool! But I think about it differently now.  Those phones quickly went from being a liberator to being a master.  I was watching a group of young people at a bus shelter yesterday, and not

Let God Fight Those Battles

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“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’S purpose that prevails.” ~Proverbs 19:21 Think about how much happier we would be in our lives, if we simply focused on what we can change.  But we don’t.  Too often we are worried about things we can’t control. We are focused on the behavior of other people. Or are fretting about events that haven’t even happened yet and that are completely out of our control. It used to irritate me when somebody would tell me to fix what I can fix and leave the rest to God. I thought it unrealistic. I’m wiser now. I gained that wisdom by spending so much time worrying about things I can’t control. Trying to fix people that don’t want to be fixed.  Most of the things we worry about in life are things beyond our ability to control. Instead of fretting over it, pray over it. It might surprise you the difference that makes. Just acknowledging the fact you are powerless in a situation can take much of that burden from you. And every so often, wh