Monday Potpourri

Photo credit: Savanna Shrodes

How or why is pastoring more challenging than any other profession? I'm about to answer that question today. I'm blogging over at Pastoring Partners Network today and if you're interested you can read my post, Why Pastoring Is Harder, there.

Speaking of hard things...we have been without A/C for four days now. In temperatures up to 91 degrees. It has rained some this weekend which made it somewhat more bearable. Our A/C needed to be replaced. It has already been repaired twice and this time it couldn't be. So, we are supposed to get it installed today. I am hoping the family can sleep well tonight. In the meantime I have counted it all joy and kept my mind on friends in other countries, and even one friend in the USA, who does not have A/C. What new compassion it has given me for them. Right now it's 89 inside our house and even the dogs are just laying here, tongues hanging out, although I have given them plenty of ice water. Cold showers have been my bff. I have hesitated to do my hair or put on makeup the last four days because by the time I finished my hair was wet again or my makeup shining or running. Quite a number of wonderful friends have offered to host us the last few days in their home but I couldn't imagine leaving the dogs.

Speaking of the dogs, several people have asked that I post a photo of them. So, here you have it:


Max takes a rest on Daddy's chair.


Maddie seems surprised by the camera. Not sure if she was prepared for this photo. LOL

I know, I know...they're just the sweetest.

Much love,

Comments

This Could Have Ruined Everything... (But It Didn't!)

No one would ever guess what happened to me this weekend in Jacksonville, Florida...so I'm going to tell you. :) As I was preaching at the Fearless Tour at New Hope Assembly of God this weekend, I got choked up, literally. For probably 2-3 minutes I coughed profusely and greatly struggled. Then I drank some water and kept preaching. Everyone was gracious to give me a few moments to get my bearings. If you were there, you'll remember it! What no one realized at the time was that I swallowed a bug that flew right in while I was preaching! So disgusting! I said nothing because I was at a point in the sermon where I was really connecting and I knew if I said, "I swallowed a bug," everyone would either laugh profusely or be really concerned, or start feeling sorry for me. And at that point whey wouldn't be thinking about the message anymore, but the fact that I had just swallowed a bug. They would then imagine what it would be like, and feel grossed out which

Relevant Church doing something...
incredibly RELEVANT!

I just heard some news today that really inspired me. A church here in Tampa, Relevant Church is doing a new thing this month called the "30 Days Sex Challenge." (I've never visited the church but Pastor Trinity - our children's pastor - has visited or has met some people from this church and he was very impressed.) Realizing that this is a major element missing from some marriages (the frequency factor) their lead pastor, Paul Wirth, has issued a challenge for all the married couples to have sex for 30 days in a row. At the same time he has issued a challenge for all unmarrieds to completely abstain from sex. Of course we know the Bible says that those who are unmarried should not have sex in the first place but the point is, a lot of unmarried's aren't obeying the Lord's command to abstain and this is just one pastor's way of trying to get them to see that indeed, there is a better way! (God's way!) At the same time, many married couples are no

Why You Should Never Hijack a Comment Thread
Social media etiquette 101

One surefire way to kill your influence in social media and wear out your welcome fast is to become involved in derailing somebody’s comment thread with your own agenda. Networking and hijacking aren’t the same thing. It’s surprising how many people don’t understand that this is a guarantee for tearing down a platform as quickly as you build it. Passion is good, even necessary. I appreciate people's zeal for their personal core values. What is not appreciated is the attempt at a redirection of a comment thread when the comment has little or nothing to do with an original post or is twisted at best. Social media provides ample opportunity for all of us to share what’s important to us on our own platform. Eliciting others’ responses and developing connections largely depends on our ability to communicate and compel. Some people are open to receiving private communication from others although they aren’t always able to answer personally or at length. But hijacking a comment threa

Deanna Doss Shrodes

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