Prioritize me!

We have around 130 people that come each Sunday.

We're also in the middle of some crises in our church.

We have around 36 young people in our group each Saturday. During the week we'll get a visit from at least one of them per day. Many times they come in a bunch and raid the fridge :-)



We have 3 kids, well, one (Brandon) is in Winnipeg until end of February. Still the ladies are here.

We have 2 dogs.

It's almost Christmas.

Do you think we're busy? I think so. Something gives me the idea that we're busy. I don't know what it is...

Seriously. Everything that goes on can gobble someone's time and energy up completely. Even the things that are "good" in the sense that we're serving God and serving others can dry us right up and leave us pretty much useless.

Some friends of mine have give me some great advice: focus on the important, especially in times when others are in crisis.

The advice is not to ignore those who are feeling a desperate need, and really are in need. The thing is that people in crisis are very much focused on themselves. They need and need and need and cannot see beyond the nose on their face. This isn't a criticism, it is a fact. Each one of us who has been in a crisis time can attest to this fact. We often feel badly afterward that we were so selfish and self-centered. But in the moment, it is hard to see beyond the storm.

Jesus' disciples were in a crisis. There were over 5000 hungry people. Their answer was simple and practical: "send them home to get something to eat." Jesus decided to increase the crisis level. He told them, "No, YOU give them something to eat."

The poor 12. What to do? "Master, a year's wage won't buy enough." And Jesus sat there with his divinely smug smile and let them sweat it out. Finally he asks, "So, whatcha got? (rough paraphrase)." More crisis: two fish and five pieces of bread that happened to be someone else's lunch.

He asked them to bring the fish sandwhiches to him. He prayed and in short order everyone had enough to eat with 12 baskets of leftovers in the end.

So, what happened? Jesus took what little there was and HE made it work. The same for us. Jesus knows very well we are weak, tired and inadecuate to the task. Yet, he still says, "YOU care for them, teach them, counsel them, etc. and more." When we finally give him the issue along with our 5 measley sandwhiches, He makes it all work.

So, instead of getting wrapped up in the lives a few in very tough times, to the detriment of the 100+, I let the Good Shepherd seek and find the lost. I set up appointments with the suffering and then at the end of the time, I say, "That's enough for today...here is what you need to do by the next time." I fire off a couple of emails or make a quick call in between. I pray like crazy. I let Jesus do the work. I spend time with family, friends, other people in the congregation and the dogs.

Does it work? Yes. It's not easy. My pastoral heart breaks for them. I hate to stand up and say, "time's up" and then send them off, still broken. But I can't save them. I can't heal them. I can't reverse their fortunes. I can listen, pray and give them into God's hands because He does all of the above routinely and far better than I.