The PF Women Team at our Annual Team Retreat ~ 2018 Today on Seth Godin's blog, he said: It's tempting to decide to make a profit first, then invest in training, people, facilities, promotion, customer service and most of all, doing important work. In general, though, it goes the other way. Yes, it does. If you are waiting to make a profit before you do these things, in my experience you're not going to make a profit. So many organizations, ministries and churches are struggling with financial issues. I know your pain. As anyone who follows our story knows, our ministry was in a ton of debt four years ago when I came on as director. Since that time, we've gotten out of debt and turned a profit every year. God has done amazing things through out team, for which we give Him the glory! I find that what Seth is saying here is absolutely true, with one disclaimer. For Christian leaders, spiritual disciplines must always be first. Before we started inve
"But how do you wait for heaven... ~ Sara Evans
and who has that much time...
and how do you keep your feet on the ground when you know...
that you were born...
you were born to fly!"
Today is my day off. I'm enjoying it immensely. I went through my calendar and marked down all of the rest of the Fridays in December and claimed them as mine in Jesus name. :-) As a pastor, a day off just doesn't "come". You have to fight for it both in prayer and in the natural for it to take place.
Today I woke Savanna up and got breakfast for her and after she was off to school went back to sleep until noon. Honestly, sleep is what I need most on my days off to re-coop from whatever during the week. Most people would not imagine how much pastoral ministry takes from a person when they work this many hours a week.
I was happy to find out when I weighed this morning that I am almost 2 lbs. less. That's amazing with how loose I have been with myself lately but the only thing I can figure is, I am very busy and on my feet a lot, and also I'm back on the bike regularly. So, I got up at noon and went riding on my bike. It's a cold day here in Tampa. I know northerners would find that hysterical, but if I have to put on a sweatshirt - it's cold. It was beautiful out today and I enjoyed seeing people's decor in the daytime...all of their poinsettias and such that you cannot see at night.
As I'm out there I'm listening to Sara Evans on my MP3. Her song Born to Fly is one of my favorites because it describes how I feel about my life perfectly. I don't have time to wait to see what might come of my life or what heaven holds. I know heaven's going to be great - no doubt about that. But my life here? It's up to me to make the right decisions to make it great.
Too many people of previous generations just held on for heaven. They sang, "Hold the Fort" and songs like that and just decided to grit their teeth and hold on in this cold cruel world of sin until Jesus came back or took them home. Just look at most of the songwriting years ago and you will see I'm right. Most of it is about how terrible this world is, how it has nothing for us, how we just need to keep our eyes on the future...on "going home." I think heaven's going to be great, don't get me wrong. I'm so glad to be going there. But although this life is but a vapor, I see it as a phenomenal gift, albeit short. I want to maximize the gift. Not just "hold on til' heaven." Here on earth, God has a plan, but I have to work that plan. I think that's the issue with why many people have a boring life where they feel unfulfilled. They are unwilling to "work the plan". Because let's face it, working the plan takes...WORK. And to many, work is a dirty word. But I love work. Because there is RETURN for work.
Proverbs 12:14 tells us, "From the fruit of his lips a man is filled with good things as surely as the work of his hands rewards him." In other words, two things are very important - what we say, and how hard we work. We have to SAY and DO the right things. Proverbs 14:23 goes on to say, "Hard work always pays off; mere talk puts no bread on the table." Always boggles my mind when people can't see - if things aren't happening for them, maybe they are not working diligently. I realize nothing significant happens without God breathing on it. But the fact is, God waits for us to do something before He decides to breathe on something. There is no parting of the Red Sea without the people stepping in. There is no re-building of the wall in Nehemiah without the people actually clearing out the rubble.
There's an old gospel song, "I'll Fly Away". It's one of my favorites, just as many of the old hymns are. One day I will permanently fly away to heaven. But I'm not waiting til' then because I think we are born to fly here on earth. I'm not waiting for "one glad morning when this life is 'oer..." I'm waking up one glad morning RIGHT NOW and deciding to fly. I don't want to keep my feet on the ground. It's boring. I don't want to spend my life just washing socks and sorting them. I don't want to spend my life just weeding my yard. I don't want to expend all my time simply washing my car as cool as my car is. I want to FLY. Those things are mundane and must be done, but I do the mundane to get to the miraculous. Get me to the good stuff. My kids always tell me they hate being "grounded." Me too, figuratively speaking, I hope I'm the least grounded person there is. I believe it's always time to fly.
and who has that much time...
and how do you keep your feet on the ground when you know...
that you were born...
you were born to fly!"
Today is my day off. I'm enjoying it immensely. I went through my calendar and marked down all of the rest of the Fridays in December and claimed them as mine in Jesus name. :-) As a pastor, a day off just doesn't "come". You have to fight for it both in prayer and in the natural for it to take place.
Today I woke Savanna up and got breakfast for her and after she was off to school went back to sleep until noon. Honestly, sleep is what I need most on my days off to re-coop from whatever during the week. Most people would not imagine how much pastoral ministry takes from a person when they work this many hours a week.
I was happy to find out when I weighed this morning that I am almost 2 lbs. less. That's amazing with how loose I have been with myself lately but the only thing I can figure is, I am very busy and on my feet a lot, and also I'm back on the bike regularly. So, I got up at noon and went riding on my bike. It's a cold day here in Tampa. I know northerners would find that hysterical, but if I have to put on a sweatshirt - it's cold. It was beautiful out today and I enjoyed seeing people's decor in the daytime...all of their poinsettias and such that you cannot see at night.
As I'm out there I'm listening to Sara Evans on my MP3. Her song Born to Fly is one of my favorites because it describes how I feel about my life perfectly. I don't have time to wait to see what might come of my life or what heaven holds. I know heaven's going to be great - no doubt about that. But my life here? It's up to me to make the right decisions to make it great.
Too many people of previous generations just held on for heaven. They sang, "Hold the Fort" and songs like that and just decided to grit their teeth and hold on in this cold cruel world of sin until Jesus came back or took them home. Just look at most of the songwriting years ago and you will see I'm right. Most of it is about how terrible this world is, how it has nothing for us, how we just need to keep our eyes on the future...on "going home." I think heaven's going to be great, don't get me wrong. I'm so glad to be going there. But although this life is but a vapor, I see it as a phenomenal gift, albeit short. I want to maximize the gift. Not just "hold on til' heaven." Here on earth, God has a plan, but I have to work that plan. I think that's the issue with why many people have a boring life where they feel unfulfilled. They are unwilling to "work the plan". Because let's face it, working the plan takes...WORK. And to many, work is a dirty word. But I love work. Because there is RETURN for work.
Proverbs 12:14 tells us, "From the fruit of his lips a man is filled with good things as surely as the work of his hands rewards him." In other words, two things are very important - what we say, and how hard we work. We have to SAY and DO the right things. Proverbs 14:23 goes on to say, "Hard work always pays off; mere talk puts no bread on the table." Always boggles my mind when people can't see - if things aren't happening for them, maybe they are not working diligently. I realize nothing significant happens without God breathing on it. But the fact is, God waits for us to do something before He decides to breathe on something. There is no parting of the Red Sea without the people stepping in. There is no re-building of the wall in Nehemiah without the people actually clearing out the rubble.
There's an old gospel song, "I'll Fly Away". It's one of my favorites, just as many of the old hymns are. One day I will permanently fly away to heaven. But I'm not waiting til' then because I think we are born to fly here on earth. I'm not waiting for "one glad morning when this life is 'oer..." I'm waking up one glad morning RIGHT NOW and deciding to fly. I don't want to keep my feet on the ground. It's boring. I don't want to spend my life just washing socks and sorting them. I don't want to spend my life just weeding my yard. I don't want to expend all my time simply washing my car as cool as my car is. I want to FLY. Those things are mundane and must be done, but I do the mundane to get to the miraculous. Get me to the good stuff. My kids always tell me they hate being "grounded." Me too, figuratively speaking, I hope I'm the least grounded person there is. I believe it's always time to fly.
Comments