“8 Days with the Preacher” : Day 2, Monday February 20

What a day!

I woke up when Leah’s alarm went off at 5:30 and couldn’t go back to sleep, so I made the most of that time and spent some time praying and thinking about the day. At 6:00 I got up as usual, and went for my morning walk, while listening to the Dave Ramsey Show podcast. After getting home, I got ready and played Angry Birds with Turner. Then I took out the trash and emptied out the dishwasher.

At breakfast, we welcomed another person to the house, as Leah was going to watching the daughter of some of our dear friends from church for the day. We ate breakfast as a family, then I finished getting ready and headed to the office.

Upon arrival, I checked email and got our attendance cards from yesterday. I sent an email to the congregation with some important information, then went to my office and spend around the next two hours studying for next Sunday’s sermon, “Keep the Faith.” One of the really cool things about being a preacher is that “yes!” moment when you discover something in the Bible that you can’t wait to share with the congregation. I had one of those today, and I’m am already fired up about this sermon!

Later in the morning, a friend dropped by to visit and we enjoyed the time together. We talked about ministry and other subjects for about an hour.That visit took me up until lunch time, when I ate very quickly so I could get back to some work. But I did take the time to enjoy the CBS college basketball podcast during lunch!

In the time after lunch, I did some general reading/studying in my Bible, caught up on some blog reading, and worked some more on my Sunday morning sermon.

At 2:45 I headed out of the office to make a couple of visits. I try to go on Mondays and visit with those who have filled out a visitor’s card the day before, so I had a couple of those visits to make. One of the visits went very well (the other person wasn’t home), and the sweet lady told me she would be back next Sunday. I sure hope that’s true! I did, however, have to make these visits somewhat quickly, because I had to hit the road. One of our members lost a very close family member late last week, and I drove to Baxter, Tennessee, (about 65 miles away) for the visitation. On the way, I made a few phone calls and listened to two podcasts (The Briefing with Albert Mohler and FamilyLife Today) and a lesson from last year’s Polishing the Pulpit by Mike Winkler on how to effectively illustrate sermons.

The visitation was at 5PM, so I tried to get there right at that time. As soon as I was done, I hopped back in the car and drove back to Nashville, because we had our regular elders’, deacons’, and preachers’ meeting tonight at 7PM. On that drive home, I listened to another 2011 PtP lesson, this one by Dan Winkler on First Corinthians 15.

I stopped by the house at 6:10 to eat supper with my family (yeah!). Leah made a wonderful meal and had everything ready (including having built a warm fire) so we could eat together…and then I could head out the door again.

At our 7PM meeting, we met in different breakout groups to discuss plans for working on our 2012 goals. I met in three groups: one dealing with technology, one dealing with VBS, and one dealing with a personal evangelism class. It was a great time with wonderful servants of God, and it made me even more excited about our 2012 plans at Lebanon Road. Driving to and from the meeting, I listened to one final 2011 PtP lesson from Dale Jenkins on “Reading Faster, Better, and More.”

On the way home, I stopped by a store and got Leah a candy bar (okay, I got one, too) as a little “thank you” for putting up with this long, wild day. I plan on reading for a few minutes, then turning in for the night.

What a day!