Schedule

It's been a while since I posted...too long, actually. But, the title gives it away. It's the schedule. I am convinced that our society is busier than it has ever been. I know I am. And if you'd have asked me in high school, I'd have said I couldn't get any busier. I'd have said the same thing in college, and even more so in seminary. Heck, I went to seminary full time, pastored two churches at once and even got married in there somewhere, and that life pales in comparison to the busy-ness I know live through.

So, blogging has been the first thing to go lately. And life promises not to wind down much in the near future. As I uploaded my boys' T-ball and baseball schedules into my calendar amidst church meetings and functions, I laughed and cried all at the same time. Something. Every. Night.

But this is not my pity party. This is my revelation. There simply isn't much I can do to back off my schedule, and I'll bet you can't either. I've got four boys with three playing ball this spring. Our church is about to launch a Capital Campaign. Easter is coming. We just launched a Sunday Evening Worship Experience. We're finalizing building plans. I'm meeting with potential lenders. I'll bet your schedule is filled with similar and altogether different family and work obligations. Such is life. I can't change my schedule.

But I can change me. If I'm going to be me in the midst of that schedule, I'm learning that I better make God a priority. I mean for real. I'm learning that when my schedule is at it's peak, I need to make sure that I give God time to calm my soul. I need time to 'be still' with God. If I'm honest, I've never been a "pray for an hour and a half a day" guy. Now, I've had days like that. I've had days during which I prayed way more than 90 minutes. But, that's just not who I am. The Bible never says you have to do that to be a disciple. But, it says that we need time to be still. In the busiest season of my life, I am learning what that means. I need a few minutes with God before I tackle the day...maybe at the end of the day...maybe in the midst of the day. I need encouragement from His Word most when I have the least time to read it. I am finding, as Bill Hybels says, that I am too busy not to pray.

So you're busy. So what. Make sure your schedule doesn't lord over you. Instead, make sure you've got a Lord over your schedule.