Hey Everybody,
This past Sunday, I taught while sitting on a stool, and it wasn’t because I had just spent a few days with Andy Stanley at the Drive conference. If you don’t know, he often teaches from a stool. No, I wasn’t trying to be like Andy. I was sitting while teaching this week because I wasn’t quite 100%. After returning from the conference in Atlanta, I went to the Emergency Room to get checked out because I struggled significantly to catch my breath. I felt like an elephant had taken a seat on my chest.
That walk into the ER set off an 18-hour visit and then a transfer to the hospital for another night’s stay. I was poked, prodded, measured, scanned, x-rayed, and examined. I took all kinds of tests and did all sorts of treatments, and was released on Saturday afternoon with orders to do some follow-up appointments upon discharge.
This trip to the ER is what I would label a disruption. When I started my week, my calendar was full of things I needed to accomplish. I did NOT have time scheduled, nor did I have time available, to lose nearly 2 days of my week at the hospital. Yet, amazingly, my schedule opened up. The things I had scheduled to do that I thought were so important (and many of them were genuinely important) got moved to another day on my calendar to deal with at another time.
This experience made me think about how we determine what is important. This Sunday, we will kick off a series called “Family Issues,” and the first week will deal with “over-scheduled families.” If you or someone you know might relate to that, I encourage you to invite them to sit with you this Sunday for the start of this new series. One of the big struggles for families is deciding what is really important. If we aren’t careful, EVERYTHING can feel like the most important thing for our family. When that happens, overscheduling and chaotic schedules will rule the day.
Don’t wait for a “disruption” to happen to your family before intentionally thinking through how you use your time as a family. Disruptions come in many forms. Sickness. Accidents. Relational crisis. Etc. When a disruption occurs, everything that SEEMS important gets reevaluated, and really, only the MOST important things continue to get done; the rest of the things can wait…even if they are important.
This week, we will discuss ways to determine the most important things for you and your family so that you can strategically deploy your time. It’s going to be a super practical and helpful talk. Here are a few things to consider before we gather so that you can make the most of the time that we have together this Sunday:
Take a minute and look over your calendar for the week ahead. What do you have on there that is crowding out more important things?
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- What steps could you take to determine the MOST important priorities for your family?
- What would most easily fall off your calendar if a disruption were to occur in your life? Could you remove that thing now?
- I’m looking forward to worshipping and learning with you this Sunday!
Blessings,
Pastor Jamey
PS - I want you to know how my little trip to the ER ended. I’m going to make it! I do have some follow-up appointments to make, but I’m feeling much better than I was BEFORE my trip to the ER and have been gaining more strength each day. Thank you for your concerns and prayers for me. I’m grateful for my church family.
