How does history feel? During the course of my life (and I am not that old) I have seen some incredible moments in history. There have been things that surely forced people to re-write the history books. For example: Challenger, Berlin Wall, 9-11, etc. This past week was no different with Wa-Mu getting Wa-Me’d. Not to mention a potential 700 billion dollar bailout. I can’t even wrap my little brain around how much money that is. On top of that we are staring in the face of a guaranteed history making election.
Some of that history was painful but with things like the Berlin Wall you can see the positive sides of history. With all of this history making going on I began to evaluate what I am doing to make history. What can I do in my little corner of existence to leave a positive mark? Even though I don’t anticipate there actually being a reprint of a history book based on the happenings of my life, there are choices that I make that can alter the future. We have been talking a lot lately about the sphere of influence that we can have just by impacting one life. You look at what Jesus accomplished with eleven. So I am trying to be more strategic in my actions. I am looking for the opportunities to influence people for Jesus. Whether that is my son or a co-worker, what can I do right now to make a difference that can be scene for generations to come? How are you best utilizing your time right now? Are you influencing somebody for Jesus right now? Are you doing whatever you can to help change someone’s future?
Well the results are in from my little time log experience. In case you are just joining me… For the last week I have documented how I have spent my time. I didn’t get too detailed but I walked away with some pretty good data to evaluate.
This past Sunday as a part of our New Testament Challenge we discussed the Challenge of Generosity. One area that we are to be generous is with our time. We looked at the story in Luke 10 of the Good Samaritan and how he felt that the best use of his time was to help the badly injured Jew laying beside the road.
We discussed how we really don’t have any promise of time for tomorrow but we have right now so that leads to the question: “God, what is the best use of my time right now?” To be honest I have not done a great job of asking that question. So because of that I have misappropriated my time and needed to evaluate my priorities based on the actual time I was designated to them.
This thought began with the definition of radical love: (previous week’s message) Love is the choice you make based on the actions you take. So was I really showing love to my wife and my family? Well in looking at the numbers I am proud to say that this week was one of the most balanced weeks I have experienced in a while. I proved that by making some conscious decisions in certain areas I could improve some areas I was clearly lacking in.
Still have some distance to travel and some areas to improve but I feel that this exercise helped me establish a base line to work from. So check out the results:
Here is day seven. Tabulation and reason behind this exercise tomorrow.
12:01 am – 4:45 am
Sleep
4:45 am – 5:10 am
Uploaded NTC (New Testament Challenge) e-votional for the morning delivery (Want in on it… e-mail info@TheInChurch.org to be added to the mailing list)
5:10 am – 5:40 am
Cut and assembled program/response cards (I usually have a volunteer do this but I didn’t get the design completed in time)
5:40 am – 6:00 am
Power nap
6:00 am – 6:30 am
Got ready to go
6:30 am – 7:30 am
Went and picked up the trailer to meet the set-up crew
Uploaded NTC (New Testament Challenge) e-votional for the morning delivery (Want in on it… e-mail info@TheInChurch.org to be added to the mailing list)
Worked on sermon
Finished program/response card design
Printed programs & Response cards
Watched new Knight Rider Premier during printing operation (slightly cheesy but at least it didn’t have David Hasselhoff) Just to be honest if they remaid the A-Team or The Dukes of Hazzard (again) I would watch those too.
2:00 am – 7:30 am
Sleep
7:30 am – 8:30 am
Pretended to be asleep because I wasn’t ready to get up. Trying to remeber what sleeping in felt like
8:30 am – 9:00 am
Breakfast
9:00 am – 10:30 am
Can’t really remember but I think it involved Buzz Lightyear.
10:30 am – 1:30 pm
Detailed the inside of both trucks with the help of Owen
1:30 pm – 2:15 pm
Got cleaned up… first time shaving on a Saturday in a while
Gave Owen a hair cut
2:15 pm – 3:45 pm
Finished sermon
Prepared Media Shout presentation
3:45 pm – 4:30 pm
Watched a little college football
4:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Got ready for date night to celebrate our 9th anniversary
5:00 pm – 5:30 pm
Went to Publix for chocolate and flowers
5:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Dinner –a little more than anticipated
Roll of Mentos - $.89
Change from purchase of Mentos for metered parking - $.90
Stroll on the Commercial Street pier - $4
Babysitter - $40
First date night in too long - priceless
9:30 pm – 10:15 pm
Getting Owen calmed down and asleep after 4hrs with the new babysitter who “let me do whatever I wanted” (she was actually a great sitter)
Uploaded NTC (New Testament Challenge) e-votional for the morning delivery (Want in on it… e-mail info@TheInChurch.org to be added to the mailing list)
Uploaded NTC (New Testament Challenge) e-votional for the morning delivery (Want in on it… e-mail info@TheInChurch.org to be added to the mailing list)
4:20 am – 6:00 am
Designed an anniversary card and polished off the love letter for my wife (Crap…out of ink so I can’t print it)
Set up her gift and prepared to take a walk down memory lane with our photo albums (We participate in the traditional anniversary gift list and this year was willow/pottery)
6:00 am – 6:30 am
Devotion
6:30 am – 7:00 am
Got ready for work
7:00 am – 7:30 am
For the third time Harmony and I had our “us” time interrupted. As we prepared to walk down memory lane Owen woke up early and so anniversary talk quickly shifted to Woody and Buzz.
7:30 am – 8:15 am
Travel to work (Drove truck again, due to 40% chance of rain, so I was able to listen to a sermon on the way… tough to do on the bike)
8:30 am – 12:30 pm
Work
12:30 pm – 1:30 pm
Worked on sermon during lunch
1:30 pm – 5:30 pm
Work
5:30 pm – 6:15 pm
Travel home from work (listened to John Bevere – Bait of Satan… good stuff)
6:15 pm – 6:35 pm
Got the family rounded up for a trip to the mall
6:35 pm – 7:45 pm
Romantic dinner at the food court (Doing the real deal on Saturday night)
Took my wedding ring to be resized (anniversary gift)
7:45 pm – 8:45 pm
Went to Toys-R-Us to get Owen a keyboard to practice on
8:45 pm – 9:45 pm
Book time and getting Owen to bed
9:45 pm – 10:15 pm
Alone TV time while Harmony finished up some stuff… I think some of the first all week… hello Speed channel, I missed you
Nine years ago today I married the most amazing woman. Even though I had no clue how great of a package I was getting I knew that I was certainly out of my league. And yes, I still am.
As I was reflecting today on some of my favorite memories with her I was remembering the song we danced to for our first dance as husband and wife.
As I listened to the words of the song I realized one very important lesson to share. Even though you can say it without saying anything at all, don’t forget to say it also. So Harmony Dawn Griffis “I love you.” The last 9 years have been the most amazing journey and I wouldn’t trade one minute with you for the world.
Take every cheesy line from every sappy love movie (such as “you complete me, and “you make me want to be a better man”) and combine them all together and that only begins to describe the effect that you have had on my life. Well if I keep going people will begin to get nauseous but thanks for being my willow.
Uploaded NTC (New Testament Challenge) e-votional for the morning delivery (Want in on it… e-mail info@TheInChurch.org to be added to the mailing list)
So this is day two of my week long time log. So I have to admit there is some hidden agenda here. (I can’t stand being so transparent) I’ll let you know how this ties into our New Testament Challenge a little later in the week.
12:01 am – 4:00 am
Sleep
4:00 am – 4:25 am
Uploaded NTC (New Testament Challenge) e-votional for the morning delivery (Want in on it… e-mail info@TheInChurch.org to be added to the mailing list)
4:25 am – 4:50 am
Updated some Media Shout files that got goofed up… Sunday morning not great time to find out
4:50 am – 5:10 am
Inputted credit card giving slips
5:10 am – 5:25 am
Responded to e-mails
5:25 am – 6:00 am
Started work on updating programs for Sunday and got back printed out
6:00 am – 6:30 am
Got ready for work
6:30 am – 7:15 am
Travel to work (incl. prayer, strategizing, planning and looking for FHP in varying orders)
7:30 am – 8:30 am
Breakfast w/ Carl and strategize how to take over the world… or just figure out how to keep the world from taking over ours
8:30 am – 12:00 pm
Work
12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Company Lunch and site visit
2:00 pm – 5:35 pm
Work
5:35 pm – 6:20 pm
Travel home from work (incl. prayer, strategizing, planning and looking for FHP in varying orders)
6:20 pm – 6:45 pm
Motorcycle Maintenance
6:45 pm – 7:00 pm
Finished giving Owen a bath
7:00 pm – 7:35 pm
Dinner
7:35 pm – 8:15 pm
Wrestling/playing w/ Owen while trying to catch up on the news with Harmony
8:15 pm –8:45 pm
Read books with Owen
8:45 pm – 12:00 pm
In the process of getting Owen to bed I fell asleep and went to my bed at 11:15 pm
So I told you yesterday that I would be documenting my week so that I can better evaluate my time. I have read, and frankly ignored, those chapters in many books describing this process. Well for the first time I am going to do it in hopes of improving time management skills and prioritizing my life. So here goes day one:
12:01 am – 4:00 am
Sleep
4:00 am – 4:40 am
Typed and uploaded NTC (New Testament Challenge) e-votional for the morning delivery (Want in on it… e-mail info@TheInChurch.org to be added to the mailing list)
4:40 am – 6:45 am
Edited and uploaded two audio files to our podcast site
Inputted weekly receipts into QuickBooks and prepared deposit (I got behind so I actually had to do multiple weeks)
Inputted 2 weeks worth of expenditures into QuickBooks
Ran report of online giving and updated QuickBooks
Modified a scheduled contributors account
6:45 am - 7:15 am
Got ready for work
7:15 am - 7:35 am
Coffee with Harmony
This was supposed to be some scheduled “us” time but Owen woke up early and asked his mom “why she opened the kitchen so early?” So Harmony was going to surprise me with breakfast and Owen reaped the benefits also.
7:35 am - 8:20 am
Travel to work (incl. prayer, strategizing, planning and looking for FHP in varying orders)
8:20 am – 12:30 pm
Work
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Company Lunch (Attendance Expected – you’ll see why this is noted later in the week)
1:30 pm - 5:30 pm
Work
5:30 pm - 6:15 pm
Travel home from work (incl. prayer, strategizing, planning and looking for FHP in varying orders)
6:15 pm – 6:30 pm
Figured out why the bank said that our deposit was $200 less than what I had calculated (learned travelers checks are not treated as cash… every church planter should know that…right?)
6:30 pm – 6:45 pm
Puzzle/wrestling time with Owen (weird combination)
6:45 pm – 7:15 pm
Monday Mealtime Moment (Harmony made an excellent dinner combined with a family devotion discussing how a bad attitude makes us smell like poop to God but when we do good we smell like flowers or candy) – Nothing better than asking your kid how he smells in that regardand watching him smell his knee.
7:15 pm – 8:20 pm
Made movies with my creative son who is determined to make Toy Story 3 before Pixar can
8:20 pm –9:30 pm
Exercise time and shower afterwards (My wife requested that I take better care of myself and start going to the gym. She packaged it in a “I am concerned about your health and I want you to be around for a long time, and you know heart disease runs in your family, and the ministry is really stressful” package. But it may have more to do with being 32 now and the terrible combination of gravity and lack of exercise.
9:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Devotion time
10:00 pm – 10:30 pm
Face time with Harmony (part of my schedule is 30 minutes min. of alone time with her and since the coffee thing didn’t work day one we had to make up for it)
10:30 pm – 11:15 pm
Couldn’t sleep so I just meditated and prayed. Didn’t walk away with any divine nuggets but just enjoyed some time with Him.
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