+ I never saw that coming. Good scrappy win by the Jets. Now they face my Colts next weekend and my guess is Peyton and co will carve them up. But we’ll see – well, I won’t see it, as I’ll be in India.

+ Anway, the trivia of football apart, this has been a good day.

+ Arrived at the Ronkonkoma campus early and was relieved to see Eric back in action in the cafe. He’s the guy who gets there at the crack of dawn every week and makes the coffee, which means he’s moderately more important than any of the pastors!

+ Spotted some visitors but didn’t get chance to chat with any. Rushing over to the Mastic campus at the end of service doesn’t leave any time for interaction, but it’s our new reality.

+ Enjoyed teaching the first part of our new series The Big 10. Did a series on the ten commandments about 30 years ago – it stunk. Much more potential this time around because I’ve given up telling people how bad they are. Maybe I should go back to Scotland and apologize?

+ Pastors don’t beat people up, they lift them up.

+ I thought Nancy’s last song was great even though she didn’t!

+ Glad the band did God Of This City again. It’s good to be reminded that there’s a lot still to be done – and a lot of people stiill to come in this city.

+ Shot over to Mastic and was there in time to see quite a crowd getting settled still. Best turnout there for several weeks. Mild weather must help. Lot of new folks.

+ Got some encouraging feedback from several of the new folks.

+ Theater 7 was full to all intents and purposes – no one wants to sit shoulder to shoulder. We have the plan all worked out for the next step, a live video feed into Theater 6, but need the equipment and the money to buy it. Say a prayer for us!

+ Michelle Margiotta was leading worship – excellent.

+ Were missing a couple of key people, but they had done a great job of training back-ups.

+ So here’s the deal, this has been a good day.

+ I’ll be in India next Sunday, enjoying being with all my friends at Covenant Blessings Church, but still thinking about all the terrific people at Church At The Movies.

People have been asking me what we can do to help in Haiti and I am hapopy to say that I now have a very positive answer to that question. It comes from Rob and Kelli Nelson (former missionaries to Haiiti) who head up Island Impact Ministries in the neighboring Dominican Republic.

In the near future there will be scope to go down and help people rebuild their lives, so if you don’t have a passport, you should get one. You could also start saving money so that you’re prepared, but if you’re ready to act right now, here’s the word I got from Rob Nelson today -

By now you are well aware of the dire situation in the island country of Haiti. Thousands of lives are lost, thousands more are injured and in critical need of medical aid, food, water and housing. 
Our plan is to mobilize a rapid response mobile medical team from our mission in the Dominican Republic to Haiti.  Our team of Dominican and Haitian medical personnel are going to Haiti this weekend to bring critical medical aid and supplies to the scene of devastation in Port-au-Prince. Please pray for their safety.  

Figured I’d continue the theme of taking care of myself in 2010 with a few rambling thoughts on Looking After Yourself Mentally. Where your head is at is often the difference between success and failure – fulfillment and disappointment.

I like to credit most clever quotes whose source is unknown to me to John Maxwell as 95% of things worth repeating did in fact originate with this leadership guru. So, as John Maxwell said, It’s your attitude, not your aptitude that decides your altitude.

So how to hold on to the crumbling remains of sanity throughout this year and beyond?

1. Set boundaries. I live a fairly public life and am connected to a lot of people, but I have to remind myself I can’t be there for everyone, can’t be everyone’s best friend and can’t solve everyone’s problems. It’s okay for me to say no and prioritize myself and my family at times.

2. Take breaks. Seems to me that God was pretty set on this himself from the dawn of creation. He worked six days and took one off, which may well prove that making the world was not unionized, but it also gives us a good example to follow. So I’m planning to maintain my Monday sabbath better than I have in the past and also to withdraw totally for a few days at a time every now and then to recharge my batteries like a lot of folks do at weekends. Since I’m pushing 60, I’m pacing myself for the long haul.

3. Maintain some broader interests. When I was in high school they were very concerned that we keep our classes varied so that our education would be well-rounded. I like that approach to life in general, so I plan to continue to pursue some interests that are not remotely church related. My Weight Watchers classes are one of those and then there is my activity on the Town’s Accessory Apartments Review Board and also my political involvement as a member of the Executives of NY State, Suffolk County and Brookhaven ConservativeParty. They certainly keep life varied.

4. Stretch myself. It’s always good to try something totally different and while writing here on a fairly regular basis is one thing, I’m looking into taking that a stage further this year by writing a book. It would come out around the 40th anniversary of my starting pastoral ministry, which hits this summer and I’d love to call it How To Survive In Ministry Without Going Postal, but it will probably end up with a boring pc title instead.

So that’s the plan to keep my head in the game. What’s yours?

+ Sitting down now after a very good and very full day.

+ Definitely warmed up the car before I left home this morning. It was 14F which is pretty cool by my standards.

+ Missing several key set-up guys in Ronkonkoma, but we made it! I even started the coffee going today, but will be very happy to have Eric back there next week. Tasted okay!

+ Met some first-time guests, which is always a good thing.

+ Not that you’re interested, but I ate a Greek yogurt before I left home at 7.00 and it kept me going until I ate lunch around 1.30. There’s a lot of protein in Greek yogurts and they taste good too.

+ Band did a great job.

+ Marge Ricci, one of our oldest members is back in hospital. Please pray for her.

+ Didn’t feel I connected at all with today’s teaching in Ronkonkoma. Disappointed. Developed the thought I’ve been blogging about of taking care of yourself first so that you can  be effective in serving God.

+ Shot over to Mastic and arrived in time for a quick cup of coffee before teaching there too. Made a few adjustments and feel the teaching went much better.

+ Looks like the heat issue over there is being resolved. We have an excellent team on that campus too.

+ Heading for India in eight days. A lot of teaching to prepare.

+ It was a good morning. I love our church.

+ Spent some time at the gym this afternoon – I had to after what I said this morning about taking care of yourself physically. But that’s it for now – let the sabbath commence!

Looking forward to a little R & R at Church At The Movies tomorrow – Reviewing and Refocusing. We’ll be looking back at some of the highlights of 2009 and then thinking about what we need to give attention to throughout this new year.

I’m looking forward to setting the stage for what promises to be another very significant year.

Sure, it’s freezing, but this will be the first Sunday without extreme weather for several weeks. See you there!

Pursuing the thought from Acts 20 of taking care of myself so that I can take care of those I pastor, this blog more than most could sound pompous and arrogant coming from someone who spent most of his life with little regard to his own physical health.

However, better to be a late convert than someone who dies early due to some otherwise avoidable disease caused by obesity.

When I first became a Christian back in the early 60’s, there were three main vices we were warned about – “Don’t drink, don’t smoke and don’t go to the pictures (that translates to movies for my American friends).”

While it was apparently a cardinal sin worthy of being preached against often, to abuse your body with alcohol or nicotine, the message was often delivered by pastors who were fat. Weren’t they guilt of the same thing they were condemning? I’m not talking about carrying a few extra pounds or developing a middle-age-spread, I mean fat, like the biggest guy in the place by far.

That was me throughout the major part of my pastoral ministry – not ranting about the evils of drink and smoking – just seriously overweight. There comes a point where not taking care of the body God has given you, in whatever way that is happening, is not right. But few of us have the guts to say so publicly  because it affects so many people close to us.

I finally came to realize that while my health was perfect, I could not carry around more than 130 extra pounds (over 9 stone for my British friends and heaven knows how many kilos for my European and Indian readers), without it coming back to bite me one day.

I love what I do. I love pastoring. I love life and I decided to do anything that was within my own power to ensure that my quality of life is as good as it can be for as long as possible.

I lost 133lb between 2005 and 2007, but that battle is never over, so I remain committed to taking care of myself physically and have set some goals for this year.

+ I plan to stay connected with Weight Watchers by teaching some groups for them, because that also compels me to keep my own weight in check. (Yes folks, I could regain it all and so could any one of us)

+ WW goal weights fall within a large range and I have settled for the top of my range for the past three years. This year I plan to move down a little further.

+ I am committed to make exercise an absolute priority. Over the past few months too many early mornings at the gym have been replaced by breakfast meetings or the need to get into my office early. Taking care of myself means six days a week at the gym.

+ I have set a target of running a total of 1,500 miles this year. I’m tracking it on Facebook, so feel free to take a look and if I seem to be lagging behind, kick my butt.

+ I’m seriously considering celebrating my 60th birthday in June by walking from Manhattan to Montauk (the eastern most tip of Long Island), a distance of 140+ miles. It’s not the NY marathon, but it’s enough of a challenge to make it interesting.

So that’s what I plan to do to take care of myself physically – and drink plenty of coffee of course!!

And you?

I mentioned the other day that I have been paying special attention to Acts 20:28 - Look after yourselves and everyone the Holy Spirit has placed in your care.

I’m far from perfect at doing it, but during forty years of ministry, I’ve endeavored to look after everyone the Holy Spirit has placed in my care. At times I may have glided over the first part a little too often as I’ve pursued the second, but as I approach the start of a fifth decade of pastoring, I do so with a fresh realization that if I look after myself then I will be better equipped to minister to all those I serve.

So I’m amping up my RPMs and plan to look after myself better Relationally, Physically, Mentally and Spiritually.

RELATIONALLY

I read a piece a while ago that said statistics show that the older people get, the more isolationist they tend to become – and I can believe that. I’ve spent my whole life working with people, thousands of people over the years, tens of thousands and because we are all a work in progress I have been disappointed, disillusioned and downright burned more times than I choose to recall. I am aware of the lurking temptation to become more reclusive, but am determined that I will safeguard and maintain as many hands-on, meaningful relationships as I can both within our church family and farther afield.

This year I also plan to prioritize spending time with my family. So I’ll  go to the UK at some point to witness my sister’s baptism. I also want to see my Texas grandchildren (and their father) more than I did last year. Spending time with them twice in twelve months is just not enough.

Throughout the coming months, I also want to be sure to maintain connections with the terrific friends I have who are also in ministry. Locally, I’m grateful to have so many good guys around me, especially the younger leaders who help me stay connected to the 21st century. Farther afield, there’s a whole bunch of friends that I must take the time to stay in touch with. I don’t like talking on the phone, but need to use it more often, together with emails and even hopefully some opportunities to break bread together.

We all need to think about the people who are important to us and make sure we make the time to develop and enjoy those relationships.

+ I am so over snow, especially weekend snow.

+ Leaving the house this morning at 7.00 with a feel-like temperature of 0F and icy roads, I figured that we might not break any attendance records at church. I was right. I’m brilliant.

+ Missing  several key players on the set-up team in Ronkonkoma, but the guys really worked to get everything up and ready. Building wasn’t near as warm as we would have wanted, but it could have been worse – you could have been in Mastic.

+ Speaking about Mastic, I spent most of the morning there today. It was cold. Why on earth would you let the temperature fall to 40 overnight in a building that size. There’s not a bat’s chance of getting it back up to where it needs to be. We’ll have to get that sorted out this week.

+ The later start over there gave us a better turnout than expected. Theater 7 was comfortably full. Good job we’ve got all the planning done to run a live feed into Theater 6. That will add 200 seats.

+ Ben and the youth band from Lamb’s Chapel rocked. I mean rocked. Great band. Great worship. Did I mention they were good?

+ John Bernor taught at both campuses today. He did a great job. I never heard him preach before, as we brought him on board for his  skills in working with teens. Guess we strengthened our teaching team too.

+ I liked the shot of me dressed up like the Pope that he used during his message. Now I’m thinking seriously about robes!

+ Visited Bob on the way home. He’s in a rehab center now (the kind where you get physical therapy, not where you go to dry out). Still a long way to go, but he has come a long, long way. Please keep praying.

+ The cold and the snow have persuaded me to watch football in the den instead of at the gym. Maybe not the best decision, but I can live with it.

+ Looking forward to the new teaching series that starts in two weeks – The Big 10.

+ We have great ministry teams at both campuses. They work like stink to get ready for people to hear about Jesus. What a blessing to have so many people who have worked out what it’s all about.

+ Enjoying the daily Bible readings from www.youversion.com  Maybe it’sjust  the novelty of reading the Bible on my phone. Perhaps soon I’ll be able to get them on the GPS I got for Christmas.

+ No, I wasn’t dressing for the cold this morning. I am reliably informed that flannel shirts are fashionable. Get with it people.

+ Got a couple of CDs for Christmas, need to put them on my iPod – time to go!

Somewhere between dragging myself out of bed yesterday morning to start the journey back to New York and actually hitting the shower, a verse from the Bible came into my mind and it has taken up residence there this past 36 hours.

Since it was January 1st, I have come to the conclusion that this verse is something I should pay attention to this year. It comes from a favorite chapter of mine, Acts 20, which God used in 1976 to confirm to us that we should make the move from England to pastor in the country  that became even more home to me than the nation of my birth, Scotland.

In Acts 20:28 Paul tells the leaders of the church in Ephesus -

Look after yourselves and everyone the Holy Spirit has placed in your care.

I’ve always tried to to do a half-decent job of the second part of that statement, but have probably tended to take the opening phrase as a given. Yesterday it was that part that came to me very forcefully and I had a lot of time to think about it during the flights home and the three hours layover in Atlanta.

I’ve decided my priorities this year need to include looking after myself, especially since this is the year that I turn 60 and this decade needs to count as much as any and more than some.

So here’s the plan – Increase my RPMs!

I need to take good care of myself Relationally, Physically, Mentally and Spiritually. I’ll fill in some of the details here over the next few days. For now, sufficient to say that if I look after myself I’ll be better equipped to look after those whom God has entrusted to me.

So that’s the plan for 2010 and if you don’t quite follow my reasoning, stick around.