Keep your eye on the ball
Keep your eye on the ball. That's what my coach told me when I was playing little league baseball at 12 yrs old. While I'm not playing much baseball, it's still pretty good counsel now. Be focused on what REALLY matters and lock your attention there! Hmmmmm. That's harder than it sounds, isn't it? The temptation to be distracted by the multiplicity of things going on around me is astounding. Each and every week there are a variety of needs - health needs, financial needs, fundraising needs, leadership needs, missional needs not to even mention the spiritual needs - that come through my door. It's easy to get distracted and think that pastoring is all about "putting out fires." Furthermore, when you throw in some people who don't trust me (for reasons only they know) or suspect I've got foul motives (I wish I was as clever or devious as some people believe me to be) and the temptation to forget why I started in this is HIGH! So to ...