Welcome back. You belong here.
Taking new meds for heart palps, hoping they help. Had a great meeting with our team tonight, then went out with a friend afterwards. Thinking about what God is doing in my life, feeling grateful.
If I feel strong, I will get back into the gym tomorrow. Today, it snowed buckets, but by the end of the day, it was a glorious sunny day. Love it!
Have a great day.
Into the future,
davidT
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Sunday, January 06, 2008
How to Respond to Challenges
Welcome back. You belong here.
God shapes me during times of illness. I guess he does that in all of our lives. Think of Job during his on going losses, think of Martha during her brother’s death, of Peter’s mother in law, and the little girl’s parents to whom Jesus said, “she is but only sleeping.” That was tough to hear.
I don’t like it when my wife is sick, or our children are sick or anyone I love is sick, it scares me. Yet I know this is one of those two or three things in my life that God uses to grow me into His child.
The others are:
1. Illness
2. Things I don't know how to do
3. Unresolved situations
All these things cause anxiety in me, stress and a feeling of overall lack of control. I don’t like to not know how to do something, or feeling unloved or feeling like I’m not good enough. I don’t like having to compensate for this attitude by being more than I am. It leads to burn out and resentment even bitterness which leaves me vulnerable to making stupid decisions.
How I respond:
1. So I pray and I keep working at it, and I trust God and I get nervous and
2. I write about it and I pray again.
3. And I work, and engage life and do what I can to keep going and
4. I take breaks and play music and sing to God.
When life throws me into those moments of weakness, I usually retreat and run, that’s how I cope. But instead, I am learning to be the hero my wife needs me to be, the knight in shining armor, her rescuer and helper.
So today, instead of sleeping all day while she’s not feeling well, I will engage, help her out, and do some work. This is what’s best for me and for her.
Have a great day.
Into the future,
davidT
God shapes me during times of illness. I guess he does that in all of our lives. Think of Job during his on going losses, think of Martha during her brother’s death, of Peter’s mother in law, and the little girl’s parents to whom Jesus said, “she is but only sleeping.” That was tough to hear.
I don’t like it when my wife is sick, or our children are sick or anyone I love is sick, it scares me. Yet I know this is one of those two or three things in my life that God uses to grow me into His child.
The others are:
1. Illness
2. Things I don't know how to do
3. Unresolved situations
All these things cause anxiety in me, stress and a feeling of overall lack of control. I don’t like to not know how to do something, or feeling unloved or feeling like I’m not good enough. I don’t like having to compensate for this attitude by being more than I am. It leads to burn out and resentment even bitterness which leaves me vulnerable to making stupid decisions.
How I respond:
1. So I pray and I keep working at it, and I trust God and I get nervous and
2. I write about it and I pray again.
3. And I work, and engage life and do what I can to keep going and
4. I take breaks and play music and sing to God.
When life throws me into those moments of weakness, I usually retreat and run, that’s how I cope. But instead, I am learning to be the hero my wife needs me to be, the knight in shining armor, her rescuer and helper.
So today, instead of sleeping all day while she’s not feeling well, I will engage, help her out, and do some work. This is what’s best for me and for her.
Have a great day.
Into the future,
davidT
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Changes That Have Made a Difference
Welcome back. You belong here.
Over the last 6 months, I have made some changes in my work habits that have reduced stress, increased my time with my wife, provided more focused time with our children and provide better boundaries between work and home.
1. Cancelled Texting. Completely shut it off. Not only is it off, I called AT&T and asked them to take it off my phone completely. This has given me more privacy, becoming available to people at work through email and cell but not texting. Texting was killing me, it was non-stop access to me 24hrs/day. No longer.
2. Close email App on days off. On my days off, I'll still blog and be online, but I don't open Apple Mail, Google Mail, nothing. This way I'm not tempted to send or read email, because once that happens you know what comes next, my mind is on work things, aways from my home or whatever other things I'm into at the time (resting, painting, exercising, reading, etc). This has been a hard thing to do, it took me about 2-3 weeks to detox, but I can say I'm now offline on my days off.
3. No email on Saturday nights. There's nothing worse than reading a nasty email the night before Sundays (at least for me as a pastor). Too many times I'll read an email, nasty or just asking for this and that and I'm off the deep end, working it, thinking, wanting to kill someone or myself. So on Saturday nights, I don't check my email. Instead, I focus on my own work for Sundays, reading, praying, late night prep at times, etc. But this is me time, God time, serving the Body time, versus distractions through email.
4. Daily focused time with my wife. Both of us are busy, she is a teacher I work at a church, we have three small children, life is hectic. But every day, most of the times at 7:30am, my wife and I talk for 20mns or so. We talk about our feelings, about our to do's. We'll ask questions such as "how are you feeling today?", "what do you want to talk about?", "what do you have to do today?". For my wife, on the days she works, it slows her down, giving her time to drink coffee while sitting down with me versus in the car, while on the phone with the babysitter, rushing to work. For me, it's focused time with my wife, to talk, to bear all, to be one. It's the best part of my day. Some couples call it "couch time", other's "coffee break," whatever it is, it's something we're doing and is bringing us closer than ever.
These things are simple, but if you're like me and have been addicted to email, texting, etc. etc. there's a price you're paying, and I was paying it. That glazed look while everyone's having dinner, that "aha, aha...." while my 6 year old is talking to me, or worse yet stewing over a work issue. Or just simply checking out during the night time routines - dinner, putting kids to bed, all the other little things that mean the most to my wife and our children, all because I am online, texting, answering emails when I should be focused on my soul and my home.
These changes have increased my "home focus" time by 5-6 hours/day, or 40-50%. No joke. I feel better, more focused, more relaxed, more balanced, more godly, more centered, and when Sunday comes I'm more ready to give it my best.
After all, I believe my soul, my wife and children, are still to be my #1 focus.
Have a great day.
Into the future,
davidT
Over the last 6 months, I have made some changes in my work habits that have reduced stress, increased my time with my wife, provided more focused time with our children and provide better boundaries between work and home.
1. Cancelled Texting. Completely shut it off. Not only is it off, I called AT&T and asked them to take it off my phone completely. This has given me more privacy, becoming available to people at work through email and cell but not texting. Texting was killing me, it was non-stop access to me 24hrs/day. No longer.
2. Close email App on days off. On my days off, I'll still blog and be online, but I don't open Apple Mail, Google Mail, nothing. This way I'm not tempted to send or read email, because once that happens you know what comes next, my mind is on work things, aways from my home or whatever other things I'm into at the time (resting, painting, exercising, reading, etc). This has been a hard thing to do, it took me about 2-3 weeks to detox, but I can say I'm now offline on my days off.
3. No email on Saturday nights. There's nothing worse than reading a nasty email the night before Sundays (at least for me as a pastor). Too many times I'll read an email, nasty or just asking for this and that and I'm off the deep end, working it, thinking, wanting to kill someone or myself. So on Saturday nights, I don't check my email. Instead, I focus on my own work for Sundays, reading, praying, late night prep at times, etc. But this is me time, God time, serving the Body time, versus distractions through email.
4. Daily focused time with my wife. Both of us are busy, she is a teacher I work at a church, we have three small children, life is hectic. But every day, most of the times at 7:30am, my wife and I talk for 20mns or so. We talk about our feelings, about our to do's. We'll ask questions such as "how are you feeling today?", "what do you want to talk about?", "what do you have to do today?". For my wife, on the days she works, it slows her down, giving her time to drink coffee while sitting down with me versus in the car, while on the phone with the babysitter, rushing to work. For me, it's focused time with my wife, to talk, to bear all, to be one. It's the best part of my day. Some couples call it "couch time", other's "coffee break," whatever it is, it's something we're doing and is bringing us closer than ever.
These things are simple, but if you're like me and have been addicted to email, texting, etc. etc. there's a price you're paying, and I was paying it. That glazed look while everyone's having dinner, that "aha, aha...." while my 6 year old is talking to me, or worse yet stewing over a work issue. Or just simply checking out during the night time routines - dinner, putting kids to bed, all the other little things that mean the most to my wife and our children, all because I am online, texting, answering emails when I should be focused on my soul and my home.
These changes have increased my "home focus" time by 5-6 hours/day, or 40-50%. No joke. I feel better, more focused, more relaxed, more balanced, more godly, more centered, and when Sunday comes I'm more ready to give it my best.
After all, I believe my soul, my wife and children, are still to be my #1 focus.
Have a great day.
Into the future,
davidT
Thursday, February 08, 2007
February Update
Welcome back. You belong here.
I guess I do monthly updates now....
1. LB Emergent Pastors meeting a few weeks ago was interesting. At our table, one of the veteran pastors was pretty upset at the notion that veteran churches are not as relevant as they need be. Interesting, I thought he was more open minded than that. Yet, I understand. Who wants to feel irrelevant?
2. Good Friday is on it's way. I'm producing my second Good Friday show this year, I'm calling it "Gethsemane". Should be great.
3. Artist Retreat in full swing. I'm directing our third retreat this year, March 16-18th, we usually bring about 40 artistic types, which is a small miracle. Artist types normally don't commune, but God is working in their lives. The theme is "the Character of the Artist". Much needed among such types.
4. Cold, flu, nose drip, blah, blah, blah. I've joined the club. I've been off 3 days this week, sick.
5. I launch "Heaven" in Resonate this Sunday. Our creative team is building a city in our worship venue, working with new artists such as Micah who's performing her original song called, "So Far Away".
6. I miss my wife. We need more time alone. It will come. I was in tears regarding my love for Rachelle as I listened to "In This Life" a song about love on Switchfoot's latest, "Oh! Gravity." (good album, fyi, I like "Circles", "Awakening" and "Amateur Lovers").
7. Enjoying our children in our home. The other day I saw this picture of them sitting on our steps and had tears in my eyes about our love for them and how special it is to have our home for them to enjoy.
8. It's been great hanging out with my sister. She's here from Nicaragua, leaves next week. Monday for example, we went to the Jewelery, Garment and Toy Districts in Downtown LA and shopped, shopped, shopped.
9. Working Out, Persevering amidst illness and broken toe. This week I couldn't lift (perhaps Saturday) due to a bad cold (missed 3 days of work), and a broken toe (running is out), but I've been doing my abs and eating 6 small meals a day, power bars, tuna, oatmeal, cottage cheese/non- fat yogurt, chicken, vegetables, tons of water, no pizza, no junk, no cookies. Next week, back to lifting 4x/week, running 3x/week. Should be back to full strength.
I've been feeling pretty happy, focused, energize lately.
Have a great day.
Into the future,
davidT
I guess I do monthly updates now....
1. LB Emergent Pastors meeting a few weeks ago was interesting. At our table, one of the veteran pastors was pretty upset at the notion that veteran churches are not as relevant as they need be. Interesting, I thought he was more open minded than that. Yet, I understand. Who wants to feel irrelevant?
2. Good Friday is on it's way. I'm producing my second Good Friday show this year, I'm calling it "Gethsemane". Should be great.
3. Artist Retreat in full swing. I'm directing our third retreat this year, March 16-18th, we usually bring about 40 artistic types, which is a small miracle. Artist types normally don't commune, but God is working in their lives. The theme is "the Character of the Artist". Much needed among such types.
4. Cold, flu, nose drip, blah, blah, blah. I've joined the club. I've been off 3 days this week, sick.
5. I launch "Heaven" in Resonate this Sunday. Our creative team is building a city in our worship venue, working with new artists such as Micah who's performing her original song called, "So Far Away".
6. I miss my wife. We need more time alone. It will come. I was in tears regarding my love for Rachelle as I listened to "In This Life" a song about love on Switchfoot's latest, "Oh! Gravity." (good album, fyi, I like "Circles", "Awakening" and "Amateur Lovers").
7. Enjoying our children in our home. The other day I saw this picture of them sitting on our steps and had tears in my eyes about our love for them and how special it is to have our home for them to enjoy.
8. It's been great hanging out with my sister. She's here from Nicaragua, leaves next week. Monday for example, we went to the Jewelery, Garment and Toy Districts in Downtown LA and shopped, shopped, shopped.
9. Working Out, Persevering amidst illness and broken toe. This week I couldn't lift (perhaps Saturday) due to a bad cold (missed 3 days of work), and a broken toe (running is out), but I've been doing my abs and eating 6 small meals a day, power bars, tuna, oatmeal, cottage cheese/non- fat yogurt, chicken, vegetables, tons of water, no pizza, no junk, no cookies. Next week, back to lifting 4x/week, running 3x/week. Should be back to full strength.
I've been feeling pretty happy, focused, energize lately.
Have a great day.
Into the future,
davidT
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