In Need of an Edited Menu
Recently while traveling we stopped at a restaurant in the Johannesburg Airport to eat dinner. When they brought us the menu it was literally 10 pages thick. It is an international airport so travelers are all off their schedules. Do you want breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner? Do you need low calorie, vegetarian or gluten free? The options were limitless. You name it, they had it. It was a bit overwhelming. With all of the options glaring off the menu at me I couldn't make a rational decision. A life lived with too many options is overwhelming and confusing. I have chosen in my life to limit my options. This has actually made my life much simpler. I have chosen to give up many options within my mind so I do not allow myself to go there. Let's look at one area. As a leader I gave up my option to have emotional outburst. This is challenging for both men and woman. For a man it forces you to vocalize your thoughts without using anger and yelling at times of high stress or as a means of control or manipulation. For a woman it does the same and it also takes away your ability to use "hormonal excuses"; it is my time of the month, I am pre, current or post menopausal. The beautiful thing is when a high stress situation arises you are then forced to tap into the "Fruit of the Spirit" that resides inside of you and choose one of those 9 options in the place of an emotional outburst. You maybe thinking, I see you on Sunday. You're the happy pastor lady that just welcomes us into church, you have no idea what operating in a stressful life situation looks like. All I can do is giggle a little, yes, you are partially correct, I am that happy welcomer on Sunday's. But what I do on a day to day basis is what you do not see. I co-lead Epic with my amazing husband. My primary job duties are to execute all (with emphasis to ALL) the visions God places within him, therefore my title is executive pastor. As the executive pastor I oversee the department heads that make everything happen at Epic. I have 21 full time employees and 12 part time or volunteer employees. I oversee the growth of our staff, the financial aspect of the church, the function and flow of services, the marketing, I sit in meetings for hours talking through all networking gear and where every cable is run, how many switches we need, what new lighting gear and boards would make Sunday's more effective, I watch iCampus to see what we can do to improve the quality and connectability, I watch for excellence is the maintenance and cleaning of our building, keep an eye on all small groups to make sure the needs within our church are being met, tracking people to see are they growing, do they feel valued, needed and cared for, are they moving from their first time visit to living life to the fullest, I review researches to see what church wide data base can effectively impact Epic the best, I am consistently looking at what we can do to be the face of Jesus in our communities, state and world, I watch all next-gen activities, all conferences, all of our internships from high school to college, I am a wife, I am a mom with 3 kids at home who need breakfast, lunch and dinner, a clean house, clean clothes, we have sporting events, practices to attend, attitudes and drama. I tell you all of this to say, I like you know what pressure and stress feels like. I must stop for one minute and say the only way I can execute all of the above is by totally stacking all of my weaknesses and making extremely wise hires. At Epic we have a team of amazing people who's wisdom in their gifted areas far precedes mine. Our staff is phenomenal which enables me the opportunity to only oversee. I am not a super woman, I have super people surrounding me. But as in any life I have a multitude of personalities and a mixture of people on many different levels within their journey walking day to day around me. As I continue to grow on my personal journey I have found that limiting my menu options to 9 characteristics; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control, goodness and faithfulness has brought clarity within my mind and boundaries within my life. By releasing the option to have an emotional outburst I am forced to vocalize my feelings and thoughts in a way that brings glory to God. I am on my journey too though, I have not perfected this, I am perfectly imperfect just like you. When you make a conscious choice to change the menu of options within your mind you will actually begin to experience a new level of freedom you have yet to live in. Edit your menu today.
