I'm awake, I'm awake!

Whew. Duke basketball is gonna be the death of me! These games that start at 1:00 and 2:00 in the morning sure do take it out of a person. Then why do it? Because it is one of the few things that take place during a time when I'm not working that has nothing to do with work. Life in ministry has its perks and its drawbacks, as does many jobs. One of the perks is the flexible schedule...I can pretty much do what I want when I want...during the day. Evenings are a completely different story. I'm in the middle of a stretch where I'm working 4-5 evenings a week. And these aren't evenings where the meeting starts at 7 and you're done by 8. These meetings start at 7:30 and if I'm home before 9:30, it's a good night. Most nights it ends up being closer to 10 when I get home. Not that I mind all that much, but it sure does cut into socializing with people who have normal jobs or getting involved in any sort of club. I guess what I'm trying to say (and you old folks can have a good chuckle at this)...is that life can get quite full quite quickly. I don't know how church members do it. They work full time all day and then give of their time and energy to come out at night for any number of meetings...kinda makes me feel guilty for infringing on their free time. If nothing else, I can be a little more lenient on them. Most days, even if I did have a free evening...I don't want to do anything except stay at home and do something mindless for a while (no comments from the peanut gallery please).

Perhaps I'm just frustrated and exhausted because I'm in the middle of a marathon couple of weeks. I think life can be like a basketball game...there are some points in the game when you're just playing...not overly well, not overly poorly, but you're just playing. Then, and Duke is famous for this, there are bits where the team will go on a run. All sorts of things are happening at once. Life in ministry (and life in general, I guess) is a lot like that. We have our dry spells (I think...I'm waiting for that to come) and we have our spurts, our runs when everything happens at once.

Anyways, I apologize for the big ramble. Things here are moving right along. I'm in my second round of Church Council meetings. Yay! I've got two funerals coming up and some weddings I need to get started on. Lots happening...I'm doing things I can't believe I'm finally doing. It's amazing really.