A day in the life of...

More than one person has asked me what I do all day. Apparently my reputation for posting up at a local coffee shop has spread. Or maybe the myth about pastors working one day a week is more a serious critique than a cheap one-liner. I’m especially sensitive to that line since I’m the pastor of a church that doesn’t even worship on Sunday yet. Sometimes the question is thinly disguised by a half-curious show of care and interest. But most of the time, my interrogator doesn’t even try to hide their indignation that somebody’s getting paid to do what every Christian should be doing for free. Setting my cynicism aside for a second, I have to admit that it is a good question. And since us pastors specialize in turning the mundane into a miracle, I thought I would give a backstage pass to my day  

5:30 a.m. Four mile run with a friend.

6:30 a.m. Prayer time with the wife. I wish I could say this was a long-standing practice, but it’s not. Starting a new church will lead you to prayer.

7:00 a.m. Little man wakes up after 13 hours of sleep. Seriously, who needs that much sleep?

8:00 a.m. Midlands Housing Alliance Executive Board meeting.

9:00 a.m. Phone call with office landlord. I try my best to sound like I rent office space all the time.

10:00 a.m. Realize that I just wasted 45 minutes tinkering with some speakers.

10:00 a.m. Start answering emails that arrived the night before and looking busy as possible when Suzanne, our staff assistant, arrives.

11:00 a.m. Interior designer arrives for a meeting about our office renovation. Pray for her. It’s not easy matching donated furniture from four different decades.

1:00 p.m. Two hour lunch meeting with Racial Reconciliation group.

3:00 p.m. Work on web site for launch team.

6:30 p.m. Hit Zoe’s drive thru to pick up dinner and drive off with only half the meal. This would be fine if we didn’t have people coming to dinner

7:00 p.m. Dinner guests arrive and I realize half the meal is at Zoe’s at the exact same time. Moment of panic ensues and my suggestion that “we wing it” is dismissed outright by wife who leaves to reclaim the other half of dinner.

9:30 p.m. Heart swells with joy as four dinner guest commit to serve on launch team

10:00 p.m. Wash dishes