Good evening friends.
As my last post would indicate, I have a lot on my mind these days. Actually, I have for quite a while now, almost a year. I'm sure it's only natural for a 26 year old to have uncertain thoughts about his future. I would imagine that it's natural to wonder how you're going to take care of the future without completely screwing over the present. I would imagine it's natural to want to make sure you've got your beliefs in order before you jump into seminary. (Or not...)
Even if that wasn't going on, I'd still have a lot on my plate these days. We are still in the middle of our sound system install (three years in the making folks!). I'll be volunteer worship leading with the folks at Peters Creek this fall. I'm trying to whip the Bridge into a more professional service. We're finishing up our fourth youth room (WAAAAAYYYY behind schedule). We're still wrapping our heads around which mission opportunities are most important to us at Veritas. Confirmation is biting at my ankles. I am teaching four times in the next three weeks, and I don't have anything started on any of them yet. And I'm still trying to be the best husband I can to my wife (who, finds herself in grad school).
I'm nowhere near the breaking point. This isn't a feel sorry for me post, I've written those before. This is actually a pretty light fall for me (I am overwhelmed at how sad that sentence is). And yet, in the midst of it all, I can feel myself getting distracted from what it is I really do.
And so in the midst of my organizational structure (AKA: Mac Stickies) (AKA: Sarah would rip her skin off if she had to be organized in this way), I wrote a little note to myself (see photograph above). Like Bart Simpson, I wrote over and over again "Kids First!" And I really want to stick to that.
It's not that the other stuff I've got myself into right now isn't important. It totally is. It will some day need to be sorted out, and I'm confident that it will be. But God has placed me in this time and in this place for a specific reason, or rather about 300 specific reasons (I wish they'd all show up together!), and I want to be there for them.
To those of you who are in ministry, what would it look like if we all took a second and focused on who we're ministering to rather than how we're ministering to them? It's a trap I fall into all the time, and I can't imagine I'm alone. Sometimes, with the nobelest of intentions, we get so caught up in how we're going to "get it done" that we forget to listen to the people God gave us to care for.
"And that is why you fail..."
So take some time this week to connect with the people you minister to. Take somebody out for coffee. Call a student up to ask them about a test. Set aside some of your office time to pray for specific people and specific situations.
And if none of that works, write yourself a sticky note.
Godspeed,
J
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