Saturday, January 30, 2010

Personal Health and Growth

This week I was up in Redding, CA taking a course at Tozer Seminary. I have been working on Seminary for about 5 years now and this last course falls in my top 5 of favorites. I've been in ministry over 7 years now and have been a pastor for over 6 of those years and this material was new to me.
So many times as pastors we go through life almost driven by the craziness of the rush instead of the pace of God. We allow unhealthy boundaries to decide our future instead of planned out, prayerful, decisions. This week helped me to identify areas in my life where I have allowed unhealthy patterns to form and not keep them in check. I wanted to take some time in this blog to just point out some areas we discussed that especially stuck out to me and how I want to change because of them.

*Boundaries are critical for your sanity

*How do pastors embrace emotions and not just "deal" with life situations that arise

*What happens in the Limbic System can effect Brain Stem function

*Teenagers don't have a fully developed Neo-Cortex (brain) and therefore cannot fully think through situations

*What are my personal expectations and who defines those?

*Not all stress is bad; but when you don't manage your stress it gets out of control and can consume you

*Listen to the rhythm of your body

*90% of relational conflict arises from the packaging of the communication and not the context

*Boundaries preserve us for the long haul and create space in our lives for what matter most

*Conflict can bring great health and growth in our life

This course has started some thinking in my life that has never been expressed to me. I am going to work with Charity about outlining healthy boundaries that will allow me to: Love God, Love my family, and be a great pastor. This will require me to say "no" to some great opportunities but it will establish a healthy pattern in my life so I can sustain in ministry and not burn out. Please pray for me to comprehend this material so I can last in ministry and see thousands of people come to Christ in my life!

Monday, January 25, 2010

My little girl is growing up...

So this post is just dedicated to my amazing family that is growing. Sophie Marie is going to be 17 months old tomorrow and Leah Joy has about 7 more weeks in Charity's tummy until we get to meet her! My girls are growing:

Sophie when we went on Family Date a few weeks ago




















It seems pretty undeniable that she is my daughter















Sophie has a different feeling about the snow than we had expected




















But a few weeks later I took her snowboarding and she changed her mind

Friday, January 08, 2010

Grandma Remembered

About three weeks ago I got this on my arm.
The tat is in memory of my grandma; Maria Hettler. I could add a better picture but that's not the point. The point is that my grandma was a huge influence in my life growing up. When my dad and mom split up she let us come live with her. From what I remember I shared a room with my grandma until I was five; she was an amazing woman.

Every day after school we would head to her house, after we moved out when I was six, to go have dinner with her. I can remember countless times that she picked me up from school because I was "sick". She was a huge help to us growing up and I can remember that we pretty much did everything with my grandma. I would shovel her walkway when it snowed, stacked wood for her, go in the creepy shed in the backyard and even pick her flowers from her front yard.

I know I will never forget my grandma but this is going to help others know about her. My grandma was Catholic so the praying hands with a rosary seemed appropriate. Her name is in there but hard to tell from this pic. So thanks Grandma for all you were for us; I wouldn't be the man I am without you being there for me!