Time management is simple. Work twice as fast and you will get twice as much done in the same amount of time thereby managing your time well. Many people when they take time management courses or seminars and read books on the topic are looking for an easy and comfortable way to get a lot done, there is none. One book I read said it this way, “time management is not really about time, it is about energy”. For me time management is all about discovering those practices and disciplines that God promises to bless with his strength and energy. When I have His strength I can then work hard and get much more done with my life. One of those is in 1 Timothy 1:12 where Paul said, “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful”. Be a faithful man and God will give His supernatural strength to you. There are a dozen other promises like that with different conditions set as the requirement for God’s power to be given. I know them all well and I review, remind, and meditate on them almost daily to be sure I am faithfully practicing them.

The book of Provers has over 50 warnings about being careless and undisciplined in our speech. A major message in many of the warnings is that we do what we speak out of our mouth, our words are self fulfilling prophecy. I work hard at only speaking words that I want to be true or reality in my life, and not saying words that I don’t want to be true of me. That should eliminate most grumbling from my life. An example is I made a personal commitment to not say I am tired though one of the consequences of Parkinsons is “tiredness that is in every cell of the body” most of the time. If I say I am tired I will become more tired, but if I say “it is so fulfilling to be given so much to do by God that I am in need of a good nights sleep so I can do a bunch of work again tomorrow for Him.” The positivenessess of that statement makes me feel good, and I then hardly notice the tiredness. People often do themselves in with their own careless whiny speech.

I can do all the right things with all the wrong motives! That is bad, but even worse is, “I can do all the right things with all the wrong motives and not even be aware of it”. A major wrong motive for me is to do things to be noticed and appreciated by people. In the New Testament in Matthew 6:1 it says, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them, otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven”. A gauge I use to help me see my blind spot of being unaware that my motive has subtly moved from wanting to please God to pleasing people, is hurt feelings. When I get my feelings hurt by someone who isn’t appreciative, doesn’t notice me, doesn’t value me, takes me for granted it is like a blinking ” check engine” light on the dashboard of our relatively new car, except now it is a “check motive” light on the dashboard of my soul. At the point of feeling bad because of what someone said or did I pray to myself, “Lord, my desire is to please You and glorify you, not myself.

Well, the Portland Trail Blazers are done. Out of the play offs in the first round in 5 games. At the start of the season I was sure they were going to go all the way to at least the quarter finals if not to the championship game. Watching the game tonight they seemed tired and unmotivated, like they had already given up. It is tough being a fan. There is absolutely nothing you can do or contribute. Just be a loyal spectator. Being an uninvolved spectator is really unfulfilling. It is so nice that the Almighty God of the Universe has included us in His plans of seeking and saving the lost and making disciples. He could easily do it all but He wants us to be His servants, His partners in accomplishing His will. I am part of the family of God, I am a disciple of Jesus, I am part of the Body of Christ, I am a member of the Bride of Christ, I am a brother of Jesus, I am a temple of the Holy Spirit. In God’s view I am quite significant. I am choosing to be fully involved, faithful, responsible, diligent, and hot in doing my part as a member on God’s team.

Today in our culture it doesn’t seem important to many to absolutely keep their word. Many will say they are going to do something and do not do it. If confronted the stock answer is “I forgot”. If I tell someone I am going to do something, and then do not do it I am so ashamed I can hardly stand it. A faithful man is one who makes commitments and keeps them. God uses a faithful man. God gives a faithful man authority and puts him in charge of more and more. God gives a faithful man strength to be even more faithful. Part of the problem is that many tend to work at being a person of integrity only when it is important, but when we are slack with little things the character that results will also be slack when it is super important. Jesus put it this way in a parable in Luke 16:10, “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much, and he who is unfaithful in a very little thing is unfaithful also in much”. I want to give those who follow me security by being a person of integrity and faithfulness. My security is based on God’s promise that if I believe in the Lord Jesus I will live forever in heaven with Him. I don’t have to worry that God will change His mind, He is faithful.

Had an appointment today with a Pneurologist at the Parkinson’s center at OHSU. Very nice doctor who asked a lot of questions about how I was doing. Changed my medication a little bit, but mostly just keeping on doing what I am doing. My exercising is doing a lot of good keeping the Parkinson’s from progressing very fast. I am planning on increasing the amount of time each day that I exercise. My goal is 10 hours each week, but I have only been getting in about 7 for the last couple of months. Exercising is the hardest of all my disciplines to be faithful to. The key to success at it is to remind myself constantly of the health benefits and the joy of being able to continue pastoring. The other disciplines in my life have even greater benefits, reading my Bible every day, memorizing Bible verses and meditating on them every day, spending time with God in prayer everyday, taking time to reflect, examining my life every day for character flaws and weaknesses and sins and confessing them to God. I own those sins before God not blaming others, making excuses, justifying, or simply ignoring them. My flesh hates the basic disciplines of the Christian life, but I have motivated myself to be faithful to them by writing out all the benefits and blessings that come from God for being faithful to do them.

Preached on heaven today at church at JBC. Now I am sitting here in my recliner thinking about the day and reviewing my sermon in my mind. Thinking about and meditating on heaven is a great way to get rid of worry, anxiety, weariness, loneliness, depression, self pity. Hope is supernaturally powerful in it’s ability to lift us out of the negativity of this world. Thinking about heaven when life gets hard is like the proverbial light at the end the tunnel. The more we think about heaven the more our faith grows and the more real heaven becomes in our thinking. I believe God rewards those who choose to set their mind on heaven instead of this life with greater levels of strength, joy, and peace. At first when you start trying to think about heaven it is hard because you have nothing from experience to think about. It is hard to think about something we have never experienced. But what I have found to be true is that if you persevere in thinking about eternity regularly and often God will reward that effort and give us some thoughts and mental ideas about our eternity. This earth is not our home, we are just passing through, so I choose to think more about my future eternal home more than this present life that will soon be gone.

Watched a movie last night about James Braddock who won the boxing heavy weight championship of the world in 1935 against Max Baer. He was a 10 to 1 underdog and was called the Cinderella man man because of his rise from a dock worker during the depression to the world champion. James was motivated out of his poverty and the need to feed his kids, but in the process he became a very strong man in his will to win. The movie illustrated well my favorite saying, “God created a man to find a cave with a bear in it, drive out the bear, and live in the cave”. Most of us fuss a lot today when life is hard, but God made life hard for a reason, so that we would become strong and become like Jesus in character.

Watched a movie at home tonight that was a story that took place during the great depression. Reminded me of stories that my Dad used to tell of growing up during the depression. I then got to thinking about all the mud huts and extreme poverty that I have seen over the years of going to Sierra Leone. We are not rich by any stretch of the imagination but I have never missed a meal because I couldn’t afford food. Comparing ourselves with much of the world results in me declaring myself a rich man. The Bible says that God has chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and Jesus also said that it easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to get into heaven. All that simply means that our money is a major barrier to our spiritual growth. We worry about it, love it, trust in it, depend on it for our joy. Sounds like an idol. I know that God’s remedy for loving money is to give sacrificially to God’s work regularly and faithfully. It is always hard to give away what I know I could use, but God is faithful and He will bless the one who makes God first. I will trust God always.

At 6 am I was at Shari’s resturant in Salem with half a dozen guys for accountability. We get together every Thursday and encourage each other to be faithful to our personal goals that we have set for ourselves. I enjoy this time with these guys very much.
At 11 am a group of pastors from the Seattle area came down and the JBC secretaries made a nice lunch which we ate together and then we all shared about our various ministries and brainstormed about how to do a better job and encouraged each other. They stayed about 3 hours and headed back to Seattle, another super blessed time. I spent the next couple of hours answering emails mostly to pastors encouraging and teaching. At 5:30 pm I met with a group of guys at JBC for an hour for accountability and then at 6:30 pm I taught my Men’s Leadership class 2. As I sit here in my recliner writing this I am feeling very fulfilled and blessed of God to be able to serve Him and make a difference in the lives of others and to influence churches to be more successful reaching people. Nothing feels better than being tired at the end of the day knowing that it came from doing something significant for God.