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 i...
The ministry rocket is taking off for the weekend. Today is normally our day off and we try to make it 24 hours of rest, but today it was a 3/4 day off. I eeeked every bit out of this time that I could, being that it's all I have for the week. This morning I got up and was so zonked when that alarm rang. So tired from a busy week. I did not want to get up but had to, to get Savanna off to school. So I did. Then although exhausted, I decided to get a few things done. So I ate breakfast and headed off to do something just for me - nails, make a stop at K-mart to get candles, make a stop at florist to take care of finalizing getting money back for Dustin's flower order. Came home by lunch and by the time I was done with lunch I was so tired. You know I'm tired when it's noon and I am still sleepy because normally even when I get up tired, my day takes off like a rocket everyday and I'm good to go especially after a few cups of coffee. Not today. The bed was beckoning me to come back. Larry was in it, but still...that wasn't it. I truly wanted to sleep. So I did...for several hours.
Finally it was time to get going with the rest of our day but neither of us wanted to get out of bed. So we didn't, for a while. Just had fun. What could be more important? So while we were having all this fun, the phone rang...first our home phone, then our cells, everything. Ring, ring, ring, just like always. The cycle is so interesting. This is how Fridays (our day off) goes...first you hear our home phone. Then I say, "Uh, Larry, your pants (usually on the floor) are going to start ringing in just a second as soon as they are done ringing the house phone." Sure enough, there is goes. Then when his phone is done buzzing on the floor, I say, "listen close, you are about to hear my phone out on the dining room table!" Sure enough five seconds later, you hear the theme song from Wonder Woman playing out on the dining room table. It never ends, and 95% of the time it is never about somebody having a heart attack, or something like that. It's usually, "hey, do you have this person in the church's phone number?" Or..."can you tell me what time the youth activity is tonight?" Or, "can you let so and so know that I won't be there Sunday and will need someone else to help out with _________ ?" And you know what? I said, "let them ring." It's Friday and if it isn't an emergency, it's just going to ring. This was our only time off, not even 8 hours, for the next week and you know...I just absolutely committed to peace for that moment.
Finally it was time to get going with the rest of our day but neither of us wanted to get out of bed. So we didn't, for a while. Just had fun. What could be more important? So while we were having all this fun, the phone rang...first our home phone, then our cells, everything. Ring, ring, ring, just like always. The cycle is so interesting. This is how Fridays (our day off) goes...first you hear our home phone. Then I say, "Uh, Larry, your pants (usually on the floor) are going to start ringing in just a second as soon as they are done ringing the house phone." Sure enough, there is goes. Then when his phone is done buzzing on the floor, I say, "listen close, you are about to hear my phone out on the dining room table!" Sure enough five seconds later, you hear the theme song from Wonder Woman playing out on the dining room table. It never ends, and 95% of the time it is never about somebody having a heart attack, or something like that. It's usually, "hey, do you have this person in the church's phone number?" Or..."can you tell me what time the youth activity is tonight?" Or, "can you let so and so know that I won't be there Sunday and will need someone else to help out with _________ ?" And you know what? I said, "let them ring." It's Friday and if it isn't an emergency, it's just going to ring. This was our only time off, not even 8 hours, for the next week and you know...I just absolutely committed to peace for that moment.
The staff knows how to get ahold of us if it's really crucial in the event of the 5% of people who are really calling with an emergency on our day off, or usually in a true emergency people leave a message to that effect and we return it right away. So, that's all that matters. Being in bed with Larry was THE most important thing of my afternoon. Finally we had to get up and get ready for our young adult gathering at the house. We sprang into action to finish cleaning, cooking, etc. and getting ready for them. The busy ministry weekend took off like a rocket. Not complaining at all about it...I love it! There is nothing greater than serving God and serving people. But every week we've got to have just a few moments peace and concentrate on each other and our relationship to be rejuvenated for the rocket to take off so we can give our all to the rest.
Dustin was going to go to homecoming with his friends and even had everything arranged, but now he found a girl who is a friend --not a girlfriend, (at least yet) but just a new friend who is a girl, to go with that he is really happy about. And, that makes me happy. I made sure I have fresh batteries in the camera tomorrow to take his picture.
I didn't read Oswald Chambers today but instead read some of Stormie Omartian's Just Enough Light for the Step I'm On. That's one of my top 10 books of all time. I enjoy it so much and refer to it time and again. So many good nuggets, so many great parts of the Word to refer to that I never saw in the same way before. Tonight I'm going to read some more in the Word, read the Tampa Tribune, and hit the sack for as much sleep as possible before the rocket takes off tomorrow. It's going to be a good weekend!
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