Busy or Productive?

How easy it is to get caught up in being busy all the time, and somewhat losing sight of the bare essentials...even when you know it's happening, but you still do it anyway. It certainly takes courage and guts to actually cut out those things that keep you busy and not productive. Being busy all the time is not the best feeling in the world and many times does not accomplish much.

John Maxwell is right in recommending that we make a list of the important, urgent, unimportant, etc. things in life. He obviously uses other terms than what I'm using, but the principle is the same. I may have to go back and reread some of that material and re-apply it to my life.

Do you have to cut "stuff" out of your life to be less busy and more productive?

Sunday Recap

Today was an awesome day! We seemed to have worked a lot more like a team today, and it just felt good. We were expecting a lot more new people, but the upside is that two people made decisions for Christ today. Man, I was stoked!

The kids got to go on an egg hunt while I was speaking, and we had a grill-out on the same field after the morning gathering. We had a great time talking, laughing, playing, etc. Although I was pretty tired by the end of the day, today was definitely like filling up on church/pastor fuel.

By the way, I got sunburned a bit 'cause we have perfect weather in SoCal!

Roadtrip

This past weekend, I got to travel to Tucson with 7 others in a rental to a leadership summit held there. Upon entering Phoenix, the highway bottle-necked and everyone braked pretty hard, including the driver of our van. However, the guy behind us did not brake in time and rear-ended us causing our driver to lose control. He was able to avoid the line of cars that had come to a complete halt and somehow avoided hitting the rail on the median (we were on a bridge at that point). We finally stopped on the median grass--after the bridge--with minor injuries to one person only.
Turns out that we had clipped a car in traffic as well. As far as the guy who hit us, he disappeared. Thankfully, somebody who had witnessed the accident collected a bit of information about this person's vehicle.

Looking back, it could have been a lot worse, and I am so thankful God protected us. Interestingly enough, all of us on the trip grew closer together, despite being sooo different. On our way back home, we actually laughed at some of the stuff that had happened on the trip. Good memories were created...

Brett Favre retires

After watching number 4 for sixteen years, he retires today. It is definitely the end of an era. I initially rooted against him and his Packers because they were quite the opponent to my beloved 49ers, but never could I undermine Favre's ability on and off of the field. He was known as a fierce and unswerving competitor, overcoming obstacles on the field, like hard hits, ever-changing defenses, concussions, fractures, arthritic conditions, separated shoulders, etc. He was the Packers' leader, especially with his no-die/no-quitting attitude.

Off the field, he had the same attitude...but with life. He had to overcome obstacles, like his father dying the day (or a couple days) before Monday Night Football and still playing like a champ with several TD's (4, I think) that night. Or like finding out his wife had been diagnosed with breast cancer. If my memory serves me correctly, I believe he even considered leaving the game when he found out about Deanna's (his wife) condition.

I hate to see Favre leave the game, especially after I rooted for him to go all the way to the superbowl once the playoffs began this last season...and he didn't get the ring, despite coming so close. However, he will be forever remembered as a champion...as football's iron man. We will miss you, Brett...

YCE outings

Last night, I went all the way to Oxnard from the low desert to go speak to teens at the first night of a week-long district COG youth event. I'll be continuing tonight in Simi Valley and am looking forward to minister to the teens and early twenties people. I hardly get out to this area, and it appears as though we really connected last night. So, I'm praying and hoping to connect and minister effectively tonight as well.
It's so vital and necessary in my line of work, namely, ministry, to focus on being intentionally relational. Plus, superficiality sucks. I'm thankful for the relationships God has allowed me to develop and cultivate in recent years.

Sunday Recap

We had a good time yesterday, and it felt good being back in SoCal after having been gone almost a week. Some attendees didn't go, but we had a couple of new people show up. Thank God for new people! I felt and saw the need for connectivity yesterday as well. We're needing to take some appropriate steps in that direction soon.
Had lunch with the Fitch's afterwards and just relaxed for the rest of the day.

Back Home

Just got back in town from my trip to Cleveland, and I am so ready for tomorrow. Can't wait to be back with the church family! The trip proved to be very good and productive. I went to the Engage 21 conference but had to skip out the last night because of time I had to invest in a friend. That time was very well spent.
I'm continuing tomorrow with the series on Dreams, and I really feel like God has a word for those attending. More news tomorrow night or Monday morning...