"I wish I could, I'm just too busy."

Ever say that?  Do you say that a lot?   Last night at small group we talked a little about what that phrase often means.  What it means most of the time is, "I choose not to make time for this activity."  In other words, the things that we say we don't have time for, we usually have not made a priority.

I see this in my life and in the life of others.  When something is important, really important to you, you make time for it.  You move schedules around, you make extra effort.  You make it work.  Then there are the things that may be of some small importance to you, but they aren't as important as other things, so you end up not making the effort, making the time for them.  When I say I am too busy, I am using a beautiful excuse.  Its a true statement, I am too busy.  The issue is, too busy doing what?  What is more important.  What you have time for and what you are too busy for reveals your priorities.

I am too busy to read my Bible every day but I do watch an hour of tv most days.

I don't have time to meet with you but I have time to engage in this activity.

I'm too busy to make it to church this week,  skiing/hiking/swimming was fun!

These are just three samples of things we may find ourselves saying.  In each case we excuse ourselves from the activity we may claim is important but really what we are saying is that the thing we did was more important to us than the thing we didn't "have time" for.

It is totally legitimate to make priorities and it is true that we don't have time for everything.  We just need to not pretend that we are not making priority choices and try to excuse misplaced priorities as lack of time.  You will make time for that which is most important to you.  If there are things that you say are important to you but you can never make time for them, then it is obvious that, rather you admit it to yourself or not, you have placed other things over the things you don't have time for.

A pastor who is so busy at church that he doesn't have time for his family has stated clearly that church is more important to him than his family.  He may not admit that even to himself, but the testimony of his life is clear.  Same goes for the man who is so busy at work that he doesn't have time for his family.

The person who doesn't have time to serve in any church ministry but can maintain a busy social schedule has stated clearly that church service is not as important as their social activities.  By the way, if this happens in a family, you will find that the kids grow up having recieved the message loud and clear that church really isn't that important.  They will find little time to go themselves when they get older.

So here we go.  Let's list some of what I would say are the most important disciplines for a Christ-follower.

• time in the Word
• time in prayer
• (for marrieds) quality communication time w/spouse
• (for families) quality communication time with children
• time with the church in corporate worship (Heb. 10:25)
• Discipling other believers or being discipled (Matt. 28:19)

Ok, that's a pretty good list.  What were you too busy to do this week?  What were you too busy doing instead?  What activities were so important to you that they crowded out one or more of the items on that list?  There are many good things to do in this world and many opportunities that may be fun and fulfilling, but when we choose to put them ahead of our Christian walk, let's not hide behind the old excuse that we are "too busy" when really we are simply following other priorities.

So here's a quote from a recent article in USA TODAY concerning Charlie Sheen.

"The dude is awesome," says Milton Crawford, a school psychologist from Texas. "He is the ultimate cool, James Deanish. He is living the lifestyle most of us wish we could. I respect him for standing up for what he feels is right."

Now the first thing I would want to point out is that James Dean died at the age of 24 in an auto accident (not the result of poor living).  He was a gifted actor but dying young is not a romantic ideal in real life.  Second, I would be concerned to know that my school psychologist longs to live a life of drug abuse, serial sexual relationships with suggestions of violence, and public disrespect to co-workers, bosses, and other 'trolls'.   Speaking personally, I don't wish I could live Charlie Sheen's life.  I find mine with more fulfillment that I have time for!  :)

Back in January I shared a teaching series at youth group where I asked the teens if they would rather be a source or a drain.  A source serves, gives of itself, a drain collects to itself and takes.  Drains aren't known for being clean and wonderful.  I asked where they would rather get a drink of water from, a source or a drain.      When you live your life for yourself, you are a drain.  Some drains are very nice, but the focus is still on themselves.  When we come into Christ, we can lose ourselves and allow Him to 'flow' through us, making us a source where we can serve others and allow them to be refreshed.

Final thought.  Everyone can stand up for what they feel is right.  The problem is, what you feel is right is not always right.  Better to find what is truly right and stand up for that.  Just a thought.

Well, another week has begun and I am way overdue for a blog post.  I had no intentions of letting last week slip by without contributing to the blog, but slip by it did!   It was a good week but with all that was going on, I didn't end up making time to do a blog post.  Now I have to get back in the habit.

I notice that a lot of people have the same thing happen with church.  Church is a habit that is easy to get out of and hard to get into.  You miss a week or maybe two because you are busy and then suddenly it is hard to get back there.  The list of reasons you have for missing gets longer and the fact that you miss church gets smaller.  Pretty soon a few weeks have gone by and you are having to push yourself to get back there.

After I returned from the Dominican Republic this year, I embarked on a goal of doing a small set of exercises every night to try to improve my health and fitness.   I have found that crucial to that process is to do them every night, no matter what.  The more permission I give myself not to do them, the more likely I am to fail to maintain a healthy habit.  It is too easy, and misleading, to tell myself that missing one night won't matter.  Its the one potatoe chip, the one drink, the one foot in the door that destroys a good habit and sets up a bad one.   Like it or not, healthy living requires discipline while unhealthy living requires little or none.  We are bent people who need to discipline ourselves to good habits to maintain our well being.  That includes church.    The Bible says do not forsake the fellowshiping of yourselves together, one with another, as is the HABIT of some.    How is your habit?  Have you found a church home?  Are you making it a priority to go and not allow the list of reasons why you couldn't make it this week to get longer?  Remind yourself that it is hard to miss a week and that it is more than one week, it is setting you up for failure.

I'm back on the blog and back to trying to make sure I disicpline myself to be faithful with it.  :)

I periodically find articles that interest me and I feel like sharing.  Often times I can write a blog post out of an article, but I am overrun with recent links and just need to list a few.  You may or may not find some of these of interest.

Billy Ray Cyrus talks about his life and his family and how fame has impacted it all.  Lots of regret in this article.  There are tiems when you feel like maybe he still doesn't completely get it, but you have to feel for this dad.  A cautionary tale.  http://www.gq.com/entertainment/celebrities/201103/billy-ray-cyrus-mr-hannah-montana-miley?currentPage=1

Whether you agree or disagree with this kids stand, I admire the respect he showed and the careful way he made that stand and the respectful way that the girl's father responded.  http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/41645977/ns/sports/

I still may do an individual blog post on this article at some point.  It has to do with how much $$ the federal government values life.  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41633114/ns/business-the_new_york_times/

I thought this article was interesting as far as what it might mean for as far as future fulfillment of stuff in Revelation.  Just interesting.  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41685166/ns/technology_and_science-space/

Another good reason for me to keep working on my Spanish.  http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2011/02/18/foreign-language-learning-good-for-your-brain/?hpt=Sbin

We don't have much issue with tantrums.  Never have with our kids.  Parenting style has got to be part of this, but the article still was very good.  http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/02/21/toddlers.temper.tantrums.parenting/index.html?hpt=Sbin

Feel good story.  Reminding us of what we should be as loving people.  Interesting that the boss told her not to bother but she did any way.  Good for her.  http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/41734324/ns/today-today_people/

I still might do a full post on this subject too at some point.  A key pet peeve with me.  Of course, I too need to be careful not to be an offender in this area.  Texting while talking to someone else can be rather rude yet easy to do.  http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/41781941/ns/today-today_tech/

Ok, that closes a bunch of tabs in Google Chrome.  Hope you find some of these interesting.

Man is like a mere breath; His days are like a passing shadow. (Psalms 144:4 NAS)

Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes.(James 4:14 NAS)

Grabbed these images off the news sites.  They show the last few minutes of High School Junior Wes Leonard's life.  Moments after that team picture was taken, Wes collapsed and died from a heart attack as a result of an undiagnosed enlarged heart.  He was in great shape and was a gifted athlete.  His family, friends and school are reeling today from his sudden and unexpected death.

We all like to live our lives on the belief that we have plenty of time.  The Bible warns us that we don't know what the next day, even the next minute will hold.  I can't imagine the anguish that Wes's loved ones are going through right now.  Let us allow this tragedy to remind us that we do not know our days, only God does.  We should never forget that nor live our lives ignoring Him.

Photoblog of Story

News Article