This is a good and timely post from Alvin. I'm afraid I tend to ignore the signs and plunge ahead and hit the wall repeatedly sometimes. I appreciate his honesty, and encourages me to be purposeful in all things.
by Alvin Reid on Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 8:11am.“You measure the importance of a person by the things to which he says no.” Unknown
I did something on Thursday of last week I rarely do. I walked into a class of amazing students and said, “No more appointments for the next week.”
I love students. I love to meet with students. I love ministers and enjoy fellowship with them. I also enjoy young professionals who seek to connect the gospel to their careers. I consider my ministry as a professor, my call to teaching, to be comprised only about 50% by my time in actual academic classrooms. Every week I meet with many students.
But I hit the wall last week. The wall of emotional fatigue. It was not a major crash, just enough of a bump to say, “Pay attention, mister.”
Like many of you in ministry I constantly have more people who want to see me than I can fit into a week. To be clear, students do not come to me because I am wiser or smarter than others or have some rare Oracle of Delphi quality. And, they certainly do not come only to me, as many colleagues spend much time with students outside class. But I could honestly fill up 40 hour weeks with student meetings at 30 minutes a pop.
So this fall I have been meeting with students every spare minute. Not at night, because I protect my family time (other than Wednesday nights).
But last week I hit the wall.
Splat.
I do not want to hit a wall in the future that causes permanent damage.
You know when I have hit the wall when suddenly I am not energized by meeting with students.
A lot of men in ministry are hitting walls lately. John Piper recently took a lengthy leave of absence from his church. My friend Johnny Hunt took a shorter but no less important break. There are others, lesser known but no less in need of a time off the ferris wheel. Schools of higher learning and increasing numbers of churches realize the importance of sabbatical leaves for leaders.
Ask yourself, are you about to hit that wall?
So forgive me for making this a very self-serving blog article about me and about my schedule. But I want people to know why I am going to say no to appointments in some cases in the days ahead. My problem is not burnout, as I am more energized than ever to teach! But, P90X notwithstanding, sometimes we all get fatigued.
We who love people have got to learn how to say no. I am much better at saying no to speaking opportunities than I once was, although sometimes I am still not wise. I am cutting back a ton from traveling, but I honestly want to cut back even more. I want to pour my life into less people and mentor better while speaking to crowds less.
I have learned I am not as good as I need to be at saying no to individual appointments. I am guessing some people reading this have the same problem.
Let me say a word to those of you who love to meet with professors, ministers, leaders, and who genuinely respect and value our advice: do not stop asking. Keep coming. But understand that the first place for you to go for such wisdom is your local church. You need to plant
deeply into a church that allows you to grow and learn from those who are older and wiser.
Thus I have spent a little time thinking about how I will meet with students and others in the coming days. I will still meet with a lot of people. It is my passion. But I once tried to meet with every single student in my classes in a given semester. Many students do not even need that. So I canned that. Here is what I will be doing. It may help you in making similar decisions, even if you decide my approach is not yours; perhaps it will nevertheless get you to think. My priority in scheduling:
1. Young professionals at my local church. I work with Young Professionals at my church, which includes professionals in the culture, but also a good number of seminary students. So, the students I am most available to are in my local church, thus I am modeling the value of the church. These students will get first priority. The local church comes first.
2. Doctoral students. My primary calling is not to teach evangelism, missional Christianity, or student ministry. My calling is to train leaders. So, one of the big reasons I am slowing down my speaking schedule is to mentor more doctoral students. And there are a lot of them.
3. For lack of a better term, chemistry. There are simply some students I naturally connect with. You recognize that in your own relationships. Other professors and ministers (all leaders in fact) do the same. This includes a select group of students I am currently mentoring (from our church and at SEBTS) and students with whom I develop a much closer relationship than professor-student. Some folks just have chemistry, and some students I just really connect with, and walk with them often for decades, not just semesters.
4. Current students. I will be available for students in my current classes, but not just to hang out and shoot the breeze. I want to sit down with students to talk about life and godliness, the gospel, relationships, growth, and impact as well. I also prioritize current classes, as I want to be available to students in upper level classes first (this fall that means Spiritual Awakenings and Student Ministry), followed by core classes. In our setup I only teach one course required of pretty much everyone, so if you take me for three courses for instance (which rarely happens), you really want to be in my class, so I should give you the best of my time.
5. Everyone else. You might imagine at this point that there is not much time left after all the above. You would be correct, and that is why God gave us email, smile. After that I will meet with other students and former students. But, in the coming days that will be less likely. Then I will meet with pastors and other leaders away from the seminary. And if I do not have time, I am really sorry, but in the case of all of us, if we do not control our time, someone else will.
So, there it is. Nothing profound, and a little bit self-serving, so forgive me. But I want students to know that I really love them and I love spending time with them. But in the days to come it has to be about things that matter, or the meetings will be remarkably brief or will not happen at all.
I value relationships. I have been a tiny part in a lot of couples meeting, for instance, and have helped a lot find ministry positions. I love this. But you and I must heed the advice of the philosopher Clint Eastwood who said, “A man’s got to know his limitations.” I often say every need is not a call, and one cannot determine the will of God only because there is a great need. In the same way, just because some need to visit does not mean I (or you) have to be the one to make that appointment.
As hard as it is, in the days to come I am going to have to simply say to some that the best course of action for them and for me is to talk to someone else (as in the local church). I hit the wall this time. I do not want to crash and burn the next time. After all, the One we most need is not a professor or a leader, but Jesus Himself (Acts 4:13).
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
JI Packer's 11th Birthday
I picked this up on Justin Taylor's blog post. It was what I needed today. Maybe you do to.
J.I. Packer’s 11th Birthday: The Tale of the Bicycle and the Typewriter
The “dent” in J. I. Packer’s head is the result of a childhood accident.
In September of 1933, at the age of seven, he had “a violent collision with a truck, a bread van.” The result—damage to the frontal lobe of his brain with a chunk of his skull missing—was a three-week stay in the hospital, followed by six months of recuperation away from school. From that time until he went off to Oxford, he had to wear a protective aluminum plate over his injury and to abstain from all sports. Already a loner, Packer withdrew into solitary activities like reading and writing.
Alister McGrath picks up the story:
Every schoolboy of the period longer for the day when he would own a bicycle of his own. Usually around the age of eleven, at the point when a schoolboy would enter senior school, parents would mark their son’s ‘coming of age’ by giving him a bicycle as a birthday present.
Packer dropped heavy hints that he expected to receive a cycle, like all his friends.
However, his parents knew that they could not yet allow their son to have a bicycle. If he were to have any kind of accident, the earlier injury could lead to something much more serious, and potentially fatal. But what could they give their son instead?
On the morning of his eleventh birthday, in 1937, Packer wandered down from his bedroom to see what present awaited him. The family had a tradition of placing birthday presents in dining room of the house. He expected to find a bicycle. Instead, he found an old Oliver typewriter, which seemed to him to weigh half a ton. Although it was old, in was nevertheless in excellent condition.
It was not what Packer had asked for; nevertheless, it proved to be what he needed. Surprise gave way to delight, as he realized what he could do with this unexpected gift. It was not more than a minute before he had put paper into the machine and started to type. It proved to be his best present and the most treasured possession of his boyhood.
—Alister McGrath, J. I. Packer: A Biography (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1997), p. 6, my emphasis
J.I. Packer’s 11th Birthday: The Tale of the Bicycle and the Typewriter
The “dent” in J. I. Packer’s head is the result of a childhood accident.
In September of 1933, at the age of seven, he had “a violent collision with a truck, a bread van.” The result—damage to the frontal lobe of his brain with a chunk of his skull missing—was a three-week stay in the hospital, followed by six months of recuperation away from school. From that time until he went off to Oxford, he had to wear a protective aluminum plate over his injury and to abstain from all sports. Already a loner, Packer withdrew into solitary activities like reading and writing.
Alister McGrath picks up the story:
Every schoolboy of the period longer for the day when he would own a bicycle of his own. Usually around the age of eleven, at the point when a schoolboy would enter senior school, parents would mark their son’s ‘coming of age’ by giving him a bicycle as a birthday present.
Packer dropped heavy hints that he expected to receive a cycle, like all his friends.
However, his parents knew that they could not yet allow their son to have a bicycle. If he were to have any kind of accident, the earlier injury could lead to something much more serious, and potentially fatal. But what could they give their son instead?
On the morning of his eleventh birthday, in 1937, Packer wandered down from his bedroom to see what present awaited him. The family had a tradition of placing birthday presents in dining room of the house. He expected to find a bicycle. Instead, he found an old Oliver typewriter, which seemed to him to weigh half a ton. Although it was old, in was nevertheless in excellent condition.
It was not what Packer had asked for; nevertheless, it proved to be what he needed. Surprise gave way to delight, as he realized what he could do with this unexpected gift. It was not more than a minute before he had put paper into the machine and started to type. It proved to be his best present and the most treasured possession of his boyhood.
—Alister McGrath, J. I. Packer: A Biography (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1997), p. 6, my emphasis
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Theology of Sleep
Here is a short piece on sleep provided by Justin Taylor. I found it helpful.
The conclusion of Fred Sanders’s 2007 blog post on a The Theology of Sleep:
At the very least, sleep is a good opportunity to entrust yourself, your entire self, to God’s care. You’re trusting something when you lay down your body and, with it, the control of your conscious mind. That moment when you consciously choose unconsciousness, and let yourself go, is a daily opportunity to relinquish control to a God who you have to trust.
Sleep is good practice for death. It’s good preparation for life with that same God who you’re going to have to trust eventually. And it’s worth asking for sweet dreams, because he gives sleep to his beloved, and he gives to his beloved in their sleep.
An aside from John Piper’s 1995 lecture on Charles Spurgeon:
A personal word to you younger men. I am finishing my 15th year at Bethlehem and I just celebrated my 49th birthday. I have watched my body and my soul with some care over these years and noticed some changes. They are partly owing to changing circumstances, but much is owning to a changing constitution. One, I cannot eat as much without gaining unhelpful weight. My body does not metabolize the same way it used to.
Another is that I am emotionally less resilient when I lose sleep. There were early days when I would work without regard to sleep and feel energized and motivated. In the last seven or eight years my threshold for despondency is much lower. For me, adequate sleep is not a mater of staying healthy. It is a matter of staying in the ministry. It is irrational that my future should look bleaker when I get four or five hours sleep several nights in a row. But that is irrelevant. Those are the facts. And I must live within the limits of facts. I commend sufficient sleep to you, for the sake of your proper assessment of God and his promises.
And here’s a talk from C.J. Mahaney on A Biblical Understanding of Sleep (MP3).
The conclusion of Fred Sanders’s 2007 blog post on a The Theology of Sleep:
At the very least, sleep is a good opportunity to entrust yourself, your entire self, to God’s care. You’re trusting something when you lay down your body and, with it, the control of your conscious mind. That moment when you consciously choose unconsciousness, and let yourself go, is a daily opportunity to relinquish control to a God who you have to trust.
Sleep is good practice for death. It’s good preparation for life with that same God who you’re going to have to trust eventually. And it’s worth asking for sweet dreams, because he gives sleep to his beloved, and he gives to his beloved in their sleep.
An aside from John Piper’s 1995 lecture on Charles Spurgeon:
A personal word to you younger men. I am finishing my 15th year at Bethlehem and I just celebrated my 49th birthday. I have watched my body and my soul with some care over these years and noticed some changes. They are partly owing to changing circumstances, but much is owning to a changing constitution. One, I cannot eat as much without gaining unhelpful weight. My body does not metabolize the same way it used to.
Another is that I am emotionally less resilient when I lose sleep. There were early days when I would work without regard to sleep and feel energized and motivated. In the last seven or eight years my threshold for despondency is much lower. For me, adequate sleep is not a mater of staying healthy. It is a matter of staying in the ministry. It is irrational that my future should look bleaker when I get four or five hours sleep several nights in a row. But that is irrelevant. Those are the facts. And I must live within the limits of facts. I commend sufficient sleep to you, for the sake of your proper assessment of God and his promises.
And here’s a talk from C.J. Mahaney on A Biblical Understanding of Sleep (MP3).
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Longing after Christ
I ran across these two quotes this evening as I was preparing for tomorrow. How I desire to long for Christ as these two men have so aptly penned.
David Brainerd
Thirsting desires and insatiable longings possessed my soul after perfect holiness. God was so precious to my soul that the world with all its enjoyments was infinitely vile. I had no more value for all the favor of men than pebbles. The Lord was my ALL; and that He overruled all greatly delighted me.
The Diaries of David Brainerd
Richard Baxter the great Puritan who died in 1691 prayed
May the Living God, who is the portion and rest of the saints, make these our carnal minds so spiritual, and our earthly hearts so heavenly, that loving him, and delighting in him, may be the work of our lives
The Saints Everlasting Rest
David Brainerd
Thirsting desires and insatiable longings possessed my soul after perfect holiness. God was so precious to my soul that the world with all its enjoyments was infinitely vile. I had no more value for all the favor of men than pebbles. The Lord was my ALL; and that He overruled all greatly delighted me.
The Diaries of David Brainerd
Richard Baxter the great Puritan who died in 1691 prayed
May the Living God, who is the portion and rest of the saints, make these our carnal minds so spiritual, and our earthly hearts so heavenly, that loving him, and delighting in him, may be the work of our lives
The Saints Everlasting Rest
Faith and Thinking
One of the men who has been most influential in developing my understanding of how to live in light of the gospel has been Martyn Lloyd-Jones. I love the way he analyzes Scripture and draws conclusions about living from it. His work on the Sermon on the Mount is wonderful.
Recently Tim Challies reprinted a quote from Martyn Lloyd-Jones on the relationship between faith and thinking. Lloyd-Jones is commenting on Matthew 6:30 in Studies in the Sermon on the Mount:
Faith according to our Lord’s teaching in this paragraph, is primarily thinking; and the whole trouble with a man of little faith is that he does not think. He allows circumstances to bludgeon him. . . .
We must spend more time in studying our Lord’s lessons in observation and deduction. The Bible is full of logic, and we must never think of faith as something purely mystical. We do not just sit down in an armchair and expect marvelous things to happen to us. That is not Christian faith. Christian faith is essentially thinking. Look at the birds, think about them, draw your deductions. Look at the grass, look at the lilies of the field, consider them. . . .
Faith, if you like, can be defined like this: It is a man insisting upon thinking when everything seems determined to bludgeon and knock him down in an intellectual sense. The trouble with the person of little faith is that, instead of controlling his own thought, his thought is being controlled by something else, and, as we put it, he goes round and round in circles. That is the essence of worry. . . . That is not thought; that is the absence of thought, a failure to think.
Recently Tim Challies reprinted a quote from Martyn Lloyd-Jones on the relationship between faith and thinking. Lloyd-Jones is commenting on Matthew 6:30 in Studies in the Sermon on the Mount:
Faith according to our Lord’s teaching in this paragraph, is primarily thinking; and the whole trouble with a man of little faith is that he does not think. He allows circumstances to bludgeon him. . . .
We must spend more time in studying our Lord’s lessons in observation and deduction. The Bible is full of logic, and we must never think of faith as something purely mystical. We do not just sit down in an armchair and expect marvelous things to happen to us. That is not Christian faith. Christian faith is essentially thinking. Look at the birds, think about them, draw your deductions. Look at the grass, look at the lilies of the field, consider them. . . .
Faith, if you like, can be defined like this: It is a man insisting upon thinking when everything seems determined to bludgeon and knock him down in an intellectual sense. The trouble with the person of little faith is that, instead of controlling his own thought, his thought is being controlled by something else, and, as we put it, he goes round and round in circles. That is the essence of worry. . . . That is not thought; that is the absence of thought, a failure to think.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
A 12 Point Cure for Complaining
This from my friends at Christian Communicators Worldwide
Complaining is unbecoming of the true Christian and yet we are proficient at it. The cure is found in these verses. In Christ we are never hopeless or forsaken. Every trial has meaning. Meditate on this cure in order to change both your language and your heart.
1. GOD COMMANDS ME NEVER TO COMPLAIN.
Do all things without complaining and disputing. Philippians 2:14(NAS)
2. GOD COMMANDS ME TO GIVE THANKS IN EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE.
In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:18
3. GOD COMMANDS ME TO REJOICE ALWAYS, AND ESPECIALLY IN TIMES OF TRIAL.
Rejoice in the Lord always. Phil. 4:4; Rejoice always. 1 Thessalonians 5:16; Count it all joy when you fall into various trials. James 1:2
4. I ALWAYS DESERVE MUCH WORSE THAN WHAT I AM SUFFERING NOW¾IN FACT, I DESERVE HELL.
Why should any living mortal, or any man, offer complaint in view of his sins? Lamentations 3:39 Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Luke 13:2-3
5. IN LIGHT OF THE ETERNAL HAPPINESS AND GLORY THAT I WILL EXPERIENCE IN HEAVEN, THIS PRESENT TRIAL IS EXTREMELY BRIEF AND INSIGNIFICANT, EVEN IF IT WERE TO LAST A LIFETIME.
The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Rom. 8:18; For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. 2 Corinthians 4:19
6. MY SUFFERING IS FAR LESS THAN THAT WHICH CHRIST SUFFERED, AND HE DID NOT COMPLAIN.
Who when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when he suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously. 1 Peter 2:23
7. TO COMPLAIN IS TO SAY GOD IS NOT JUST.
Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do right? Genesis 18:25
8. FAITH AND PRAYER EXCLUDE COMPLAINING.
I sought the Lord, and He answered me, and delivered from all my fears. Psalm 34:4
9. THIS DIFFICULTY IS BEING USED BY GOD FOR MY GOOD AND IT IS FOOLISH FOR ME TO COMPLAIN AGAINST IT.
And we know that all things work together for the good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28
10. THOSE MORE FAITHFUL THAN I HAVE SUFFERED FAR WORSE THAN I, AND DID SO WITHOUT COMPLAINT.
…and others were tortured, not accepting their release, in order that they might obtain a better resurrection; and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. All these, having gained approval through their faith… Hebrews 11:35-39
11. COMPLAINING DENIES THAT GOD'S GRACE IS ENTIRELY SUFFICIENT.
My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:9
12. THE GREATEST SUFFERING, THE WORST TRIAL OR DIFFICULTY, CAN NEVER ROB ME OF THAT WHICH IS OF GREATEST VALUE TO ME AND MY GREATEST JOY, NAMELY THE LOVE OF CHRIST.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered." But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35-39
Copyright © 2001 Bill Izard
Christian Communicators Worldwide, Inc.
Permission granted for not-for-sale reproduction in unedited form
including author's name, title, complete content, copyright and weblink.
Other uses require written permission.
www.CCWtoday.org
Complaining is unbecoming of the true Christian and yet we are proficient at it. The cure is found in these verses. In Christ we are never hopeless or forsaken. Every trial has meaning. Meditate on this cure in order to change both your language and your heart.
1. GOD COMMANDS ME NEVER TO COMPLAIN.
Do all things without complaining and disputing. Philippians 2:14(NAS)
2. GOD COMMANDS ME TO GIVE THANKS IN EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE.
In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:18
3. GOD COMMANDS ME TO REJOICE ALWAYS, AND ESPECIALLY IN TIMES OF TRIAL.
Rejoice in the Lord always. Phil. 4:4; Rejoice always. 1 Thessalonians 5:16; Count it all joy when you fall into various trials. James 1:2
4. I ALWAYS DESERVE MUCH WORSE THAN WHAT I AM SUFFERING NOW¾IN FACT, I DESERVE HELL.
Why should any living mortal, or any man, offer complaint in view of his sins? Lamentations 3:39 Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Luke 13:2-3
5. IN LIGHT OF THE ETERNAL HAPPINESS AND GLORY THAT I WILL EXPERIENCE IN HEAVEN, THIS PRESENT TRIAL IS EXTREMELY BRIEF AND INSIGNIFICANT, EVEN IF IT WERE TO LAST A LIFETIME.
The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Rom. 8:18; For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. 2 Corinthians 4:19
6. MY SUFFERING IS FAR LESS THAN THAT WHICH CHRIST SUFFERED, AND HE DID NOT COMPLAIN.
Who when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when he suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously. 1 Peter 2:23
7. TO COMPLAIN IS TO SAY GOD IS NOT JUST.
Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do right? Genesis 18:25
8. FAITH AND PRAYER EXCLUDE COMPLAINING.
I sought the Lord, and He answered me, and delivered from all my fears. Psalm 34:4
9. THIS DIFFICULTY IS BEING USED BY GOD FOR MY GOOD AND IT IS FOOLISH FOR ME TO COMPLAIN AGAINST IT.
And we know that all things work together for the good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28
10. THOSE MORE FAITHFUL THAN I HAVE SUFFERED FAR WORSE THAN I, AND DID SO WITHOUT COMPLAINT.
…and others were tortured, not accepting their release, in order that they might obtain a better resurrection; and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. All these, having gained approval through their faith… Hebrews 11:35-39
11. COMPLAINING DENIES THAT GOD'S GRACE IS ENTIRELY SUFFICIENT.
My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:9
12. THE GREATEST SUFFERING, THE WORST TRIAL OR DIFFICULTY, CAN NEVER ROB ME OF THAT WHICH IS OF GREATEST VALUE TO ME AND MY GREATEST JOY, NAMELY THE LOVE OF CHRIST.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered." But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35-39
Copyright © 2001 Bill Izard
Christian Communicators Worldwide, Inc.
Permission granted for not-for-sale reproduction in unedited form
including author's name, title, complete content, copyright and weblink.
Other uses require written permission.
www.CCWtoday.org
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