The Thoughts of a Young Preacher

One of the best pieces of advice that I ever received from my ministry profs was to always schedule time for my wife/family. Ministry can be a demanding thing and the longer I am in ministry the more I realize two very important things.

1. You have to be willing to say no sometimes. In ministry every opportunity to serve someone or to be at a certain even most likely will have some element of good to it. When I first started in ministry I said yes to everything and I found out very quickly that this takes it toll on you.

2. Have a set time each week where no matter what you will be with your spouse or your family. Ruth and I have a date night each Friday where our congregation has knows that we do have plans on Friday and no we will not break them. They are a few exceptions like an emergency but other then that we faithfully take time for our us each Friday. That is not to say that this is the only time that we spend time together but it is a guarantee that we will have time just for us. Ministers cannot afford to neglect their wife's, marriages, or their families. No one wins when that happens no matter how much time your are spending with the people in your church.

Now last night Ruth and I had a date night because this past weekend we could not do Friday night because we were with our youth group at a youth rally. I really enjoyed this date. We went out to eat. We walked in the mall for a while. We even found one of those picture booths that actually give you real color pics in a small strip with 4 different shots! We had to do it and it was fun! We then went to a movie and played air hockey before the movie. As I am writing this I am thinking to myself now why am I writing each detail of our date. I guess I just had a lot of fun last night and I want to encourage the others ministers that read this blog to make sure and do the same.

God's Richest Blessings
Michael