Busy, Busy

 I am so busy.  I am doing substitute teaching because I have to make money, but I'm also working with this church in Elkhart and would like to spend more time there.  I'm picking up funeral gigs on the side when I can to make a little money doing that and I'm still trying to learn guitar.  Not to mention I'm trying to support my wife with her church as much as I can.  I'm still active doing stuff in South Bend-TAP just won't go away.  I'm active in a lot of spheres.

 Ade Seven Adebanji

I find that I like all this stuff I'm doing.  I complain about the teaching, but I get to meet some really cool kids.  I'm called to pastoring so I love the church stuff and doing funerals is sort of kind of involved in that.  I'm busy and that's good.  What isn't good is that I feel like I could do more and be more effective if I wasn't shuffling between so many things.

I have found that this developing call in Elkhart is a really fun thing and I like all the people I'm working with.  The difficulty is that it just isn't paying me and there's no room for me at this point.  It's hard being patient and moving slowly into what I would like to jump into.  I try to think of Biblical parallels, but I come up short.  I don't know about the minor prophets, but most of the call stories are about moving right into the job-think about Samuel or Isaiah or Moses.  I guess I need to rely on Proverbs and the advice to trust in the Lord.

I am learning a lot and the experiences have been good for me.  What I strive to do is live each day and get the most out of it, rather than looking only to what's going to develop in Elkhart.  I think, on the whole, that is the stance to use to encounter life.  If we focus on what's right in front of us we are fully present in the moment, making the most of that bit of life the Lord gives us.

Keeping things straight

The last few weeks have been pretty crazy.  I've been preaching a lot of places so I have to deal with different orders of worship and different worship styles about every other week.  I'm also working on finishing up some INSPIRE Grant stuff in South Bend and TAP is also requiring time from me.  Finally, there is the substitute teaching.  Taken all together, this is a good bunch of work and it's hard to keep it all straight.  In fact, I was just thinking that I didn't have a demanding afternoon so I could take a nap...until it occurred to me that I have to do an order of worship for this Sunday and there's the paperwork for the NRC. 

For me, when there are demands like this that are sort of scattered I find it hard to maintain my spiritual disciplines.  I find that I am doing a lot more praying in the car and, while I know God hears those prayers, I also know my attention is divided.  So, I'm not praying like I should be.  I hadn't spoken to Chuck for several weeks and I finally called him last night to keep him up to date on my life so he can be supportive.  I am doing my little Bible study every morning, but that is so little that I hardly count it as a discipline.  It's not healthy to get caught up doing all these things and putting all these concerns first before my relationship with God, but it's something we all do.  Honestly.  We all struggle with the routine of spiritual discipline and usually give it short shrift. 

I have found that there are an awful lot of opportunities to do ministry.  I could easily fill my day with doing ministry work.  I think this is what Luther had in mind when he wrote about how people are called to a vocation and in the midst of that vocation we proclaim the risen Lord.  Just in the process of living life in community we are surrounded by the neighbors we are to love.  The pity is when that opportunity is allowed to pass.  The shame is when we don't use our God-given gifts to build God's kingdom.  We are the poorer when we fail to grasp what's right in front of us.  I wonder what the world would look like if we tried to live by Jesus' model.