schedule

It’s not my first choice on the menu…pancakes. I’m more of an eggs and bacon kind of guy. I know my wife loves them and I do like the idea of creating them, I love cooking! This past weekend we decided to take a few days off to enjoy the great outdoors. We packed up the truck with all our camping gear and headed north to Devil’s Lake in Wisconsin. The park was quite full so we camped at a nearby campground Mirror Lake, it’s quite the gem. We spent most of our first day setting up camp, napping, talking around the campfire and praying together – there is just something about getting away from your every day schedule that allows you to think more clearly and put the life that God has given you in perspective.

We invited another couple to join us for the weekend. They are very close friends of ours and came up later that night after getting off work. It was a comfort and refreshing thing to spend an intentional weekend with another couple that re-energizes us and gave us all an opportunity to minister to one another.

After a long day of hiking and rock climbing the cliffs at Devil’s Lake we ended the evening with chili over the campfire. The next morning I put some coffee on and then proceeded to make some thick, fluffy, blueberry pancakes. I did have my eggs and bacon but also threw down a giant blueberry pancake! It was perhaps the best pancake I’ve ever had…and a new favorite.

The truth is, no matter if things are going great, life is a little crazy or you find yourself in tough situations I think the three following things can bring great joy to your life and family:

1.) GO CAMPING. Maybe you aren’t the happy camper…but do try to get away from everything – including that cell phone. Throw the normal schedule out the window for a couple of days…enjoy the adventure!

2.) TIME WITH FRIENDS. Great friends are priceless. Find them and keep them close – they can be your greatest boost of energy while serving in full-time ministry.

3.) EAT BLUEBERRY PANCAKES. More specifically, try something new whether it be a new food, a new exercise routine, or book series. You never know…you just might like it!

Keep up to date with blog posts by subscribing in the top right corner of the page. Pass the link on to a friend! www.lifeofayouthpastor.com

The truth is that I’m addicted to some things.

ad·dict·ed – to become physiologically or psychologically dependent on a habit-forming substance.

Every morning when I wake up I find myself gravitating toward TWO things I depend on for my day, without them my day falls apart…

1) COFFEE. Typical for the youth pastor trying to keep that crazy schedule of hanging out with students and leaders, healthy though?! I would think not…surely it can’t be healthy when one is addicted to a caffeinated, acidic, beverage of this sort. I know the headache at 1pm all too well – it hurts REALLY bad! This means I didn’t get my one mug fill for the morning…perhaps in another post I’ll talk about fighting addictions but for now I’m just confessing mine. Check out some stuff I found on us coffee drinkers, or even those of you who think drinking coffee is unhealthy!

I found a poll that questioned 4,700 people…

Overall, about 34% of those people say they need coffee to get through the workday. I’m victim of the 34%…the people who are addicted and get headaches early afternoon without their “fix” of the double shot espresso or venti mocha, I personally like my coffee with a little white mocha!

Of those who drink coffee,

46% say they are less productive without it.
61% drink two or more cups a day
28% drink three or more cups a day
I drink one cup…okay sometimes two

While coffee was once considered bad for your health, it’s now thought to have many benefits besides simply jolting you awake in the morning.

Heavy coffee drinkers may be half as likely to get diabetes as light drinkers or nondrinkers, perhaps because coffee may contain chemicals that lower blood sugar.
Coffee might also help protect against cancer. Coffee drinkers are 50% less likely to get liver cancer than those who don’t drink it, and a few studies have found ties to lower rates of colon, breast, and rectal cancers among coffee enthusiasts.
There is some evidence that coffee may protect men, but not women, against Parkinson’s disease.

How would you like that?

Attorneys and judges are most likely to take their coffee black, as are hotel workers
Human resources professionals and personal caretakers are most likely to take their coffee with cream and sugar
Editors, writers, government workers and teachers are most likely to favor flavored coffees

2) SHOWER. I know this one may seem odd but it’s the truth. If I don’t get my shower in the morning I’m just not awake and ready for my day…it’s not the piping hot, well water that smells like sulfur and rotten eggs, nor my old spice body wash that does it for me. It’s my WATER PROOF BIBLE! Yup, believe it or not I do have a waterproof Bible I keep in the shower and have had it for over a year now. I’m addicted to it. Show this thing off at your small group, students love it! It does cause me to take longer showers, and highlighting my favorite verses doesn’t really work well, but it is one of the only places in life I can get away from it all…no phone, no computer, no TV, nothing…absolutely nothing, just me and the waterproof Bible. Being addicted to the Word is a good thing I suppose, without a little pep-talk with God my day seems empty and can quickly become about me rather than the one I serve. I have become dependent on it, the shower that is…I know it is the first thing I must do when I wake up. Okay okay, so sometimes I have my coffee first!

Do you have a favorite place you connect with God?

What are you addicted to?

Is it healthy?

Life of a youth pastor .

Subscribe

Eat Blueberry Pancakes

I’m addicted 2 things…