COLUMN: I Just Might Be Doing Something Wrong!

Sometimes things in life just don’t go as you want them to or thought they would. Here it is early October and I’m just about to leave on vacation. I didn’t originally plan things this way nor did I want to be vacationing this late in the year, but here it is.

Due to all kinds of scheduling changes and mix-ups, 2017 has been a strange year. I didn’t go to Myanmar as I’ve done annually for years now. I didn’t do a mission trip to Africa as it looked like I would. And somewhere in the midst of all that I didn’t get a vacation either.

But now is the time if I’m going to get one at all. So I’ve done my research, gotten a room, arranged a shuttle, bought all the equipment I think I’ll need and am all ready to go spend two weeks hopefully hiking the first two hundred miles of the Arizona Trail, from the border with Mexico to Oracle.

I’m almost ready, if I just didn’t have so much darn work to finish first. I can’t leave without doing a whole lot of things ahead of time and trying to do so is wearing me out! Since I have several weekly commitments I don’t want to just leave them hanging. So, to date, I’ve researched, written and recorded 4 episodes of Tales From the Scrypt for KLPZ 1380am, 4 episodes of my podcast, Disciple Up, and have recorded several weeks of games for my YouTube gaming channel.

Oh and don’t forget this column either. My brain is on overload and I’m so exhausted from getting ready for my vacation that I’m not sure I’ll have the energy to actually go on my vacation!

Whew! I think I’m doing something wrong here aren’t I?

The one real comfort I have in all of this is that I’m not alone. I hear stories like this from people all the time. It seems to be a part of our modern way of life and goes something like this:

• Freely choose to cram your life full of all kind of things.
• Get so many that you can manage them as long as nothing unusual happens.
• Stress out when something unplanned and unwanted does happen.
• Stumble through it all and somehow come out in one piece.
• Swear you are going to downsize and simplify your life.
• Then add “just one little thing” to your list because I “have too” or it’s “so cool.”
• Rinse and repeat next year.

Sounds about right to me.

Truth to tell, I won’t give up either Tales From the Scrypt or Disciple Up because I like doing them and think they’re important. And since I enjoy doing my YouTube channel I won’t drop that either. But if I was smart – a big ‘if’, I’m sure you’ll agree – I’d grant myself permission to let the podcast and channel slow down occasionally so that I can actually do some living and have some space in my life for when it’s really needed.

So that’s something I’m going to shoot for and we’ll see how well I do in a few months when it’s Christmas and New Years again. That would be smart, but I’m pretty sure the smart money isn’t on me actually acting smart!

Now I’d love to go on but I have to get back to working on that sermon I’ll be preaching the Sunday after my vacation!

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Louie Marsh is pastor of Christ’s Church on the River on the Parker Strip. Visit his website HERE.