I tried to stay away from both my phone and my computer on Friday, so I did not post yesterday. I finish this evening, thinking back on the past few days.
Thursday:
4:00 a.m. Up to shower and dress about an hour later than I planned. I don’t do well to get up on time if I go to bed too late.
4:30 a.m. My devotional Time.
5:30 a.m. Because I have a meeting at 8:00 a.m., I took the time to accomplish a number of normal tasks I knew I would be unable to do. I spent about 20 minutes doing some filing in my home office, reading, writing a memo I will use next week for a short meeting with Sunday School secretaries, sending a few tasks to our receptionist via e-mail, responding to e-mail, reviewing material for my first meeting of the day and I wrote a few notes to some in our church I had been praying for.
7:30 a.m. Kelly was up with Brie to feed her, so we did not have our time of reading together. I finished packing to leave for the office.
8:00 a.m. Meeting with two of our pastors regarding our Ministry Action Plans for 2008. We had a lively and very helpful discussion regarding how we will be developing and overseeing ministry next year.
10:00 a.m. Spent time reviewing and preparing for a number of financial issues, responded to e-mail, had a few phone calls and did some basic “next item” work on a number of projects.
12:00 p.m. At the gym to work out.
1:00 p.m. At home to shower, have lunch (Kelly was away planning for a women’s teaching and fellowship for Friday). While eating I caught up on the news and a few blogs.
2:00 p.m. I spent more time than I should reading the blogosphere and trying to get my Treo 700p to sync well with my Franklin Covey software. I actually had to do a live chat with a Franklin Covey specialist to resolve a few issues. All works well now, but it was a waste of time.
3:30 p.m. Began studying for Sunday Sermon – reading commentaries Romans 5:15-17 (Cranfield, Dunn, Moo, Schreiner, Morris, Luther, Murray, MacArthur, Piper, Huges).
5:30 p.m. Read over the chapter from John Piper’s Future Grace that we would be covering in our men’s study tonight.
6:00 p.m. Had dinner with Kel and Brie.
6:45 p.m. Left for the Study.
7:00 p.m. – 8:45 p.m. Men’s Bible Study.
9:00 p.m. – had a brief counseling session with one our men.
10:15 p.m. Back home and in bed fairly quickly – can hardly keep my eyes open getting home and getting to bed.
Friday
Friday is my day off. My goal is to spend time away from both my home and church office – away from home and church phones and spend time with Kelly and Brie and rest.
On Friday, Brie is our alarm clock, so I was up at 7:00 a.m. After getting Brie fed, Kel and I spent time talking to and playing with Brie in our bedroom until around 8:00 a.m.
8:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. I read through a few blogs, spent a brief time in prayer, read through the headlines of a local newspaper. I pulled off of my shelf a biography on Richard Nixon, John Kennedy and Bill Clinton and perused through sections that talked about their daily work ethic and practices. It was some enjoyable unnecessary reading that provided a good distraction from the normal.
9:30 a.m. Kelly and I had a meeting with our adoption worker. All is moving along well with the process.
10:30 a.m. Kelly and I went outside to work on our yard. I also spent a little time cutting down boxes that had accumulated in our garage from the mountain of things people had bought and given us when we received Brie.
12:30 a.m. Had lunch with Kelly, and spend time in our living room, watching a little T.V., talking and relaxing.
We spent most of our afternoon together before Kelly had to get ready to go to the women’s meeting at church. I spent a little time catching up on the GOP presidential debate that happened on Thursday evening.
4:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. – Kelly headed off to the women’s meeting. About 5, I made dinner and spent time playing with Brie. I pulled out a DVD series on US Presidents and watched the series from Truman all the way through the current President. I also continued reading a bit in the biographies I had begun that morning. I did little but get my mind off of the normal and enjoyed a bit of rest.
Saturday
6:00 a.m. Up and in the study for devotional time.
7:00 a.m. – having trouble with our internet connection, so I’m on the phone with our ISP people getting it resolved.
8:00 a.m. Writing e-mail, returned a few phone calls from Friday, did some filing in the home office. I also spent time planning my week for next week. I use Franklin Covey’s Plan Plus software that connects with Outlook. I plan major tasks and appointments for the week. I also organize my project files in a tickler system as to when I will handle them through the course of next week.
10:00 a.m. Studied for Sunday Sermon – read more from commentaries.
12:00 p.m. I went to the church office to print off bulletins for our Sunday School class. I also put together a large white board we will use in one of our Sunday School classes as well as the class I am teaching on Wednesday.
1:30 p.m. Came home and watched Brie as Kel got ready to go to our Sunday School class party.
2:15 p.m. I prepare to go to the fellowship.
2:45 p.m. we are out the door to head to the class fellowship.
3:00 p.m. Class fellowship – Cinco de Mayo theme. We played games with the kids and had a great meal together.
6:00 p.m. back home.
6:30 p.m. I am doing some more preparation for Sunday’s sermon.
8:00 p.m. I do a little reading and write this post.
8:45 p.m. I head to bed. I plan to be up fairly early tomorrow morning.
A very average week, for this average pastor.
