Planning for the day...

I spent much of the afternoon today creating a spreadsheet of our personal financial assets. The effort is part of my plan to create a "In case of death grab this" notebook as suggested by our attorney. I'm also jotting thoughts about favorite Scriptures, hymns and worship songs, for possible use in a memorial service. Later, I might even try to assemble a photo collection and write a bio. I want to leave our kids with an easier task of it than my parents left us. (Mary's did a better job.)

All this planning might seem a bit morbid to some. I don't find it that way. The Bible teaches me to number my days. The reality is, we all die sooner or later. I've procrastinated preparing for death, and now I'm motivated to take action. I have friends who have died in recent years, and a couple more who are near death now. Our church's associate pastor is currently doing a sermon series on death. One of my board members, an attorney, did a workshop last week about final documents, and that prompted me to check my will (good thing...I found an error!). Besides all this, I've always been one to ask myself, "What's the next life transition you're facing?" and to prepare for it. For me, my next transition doesn't mean retirement in any complete sense, because I'm called to lifelong ministry. It may mean reshaping my ministry, to be sure. And so I'm doing some thinking about that. But one transition that I certainly face is death. I've already had heart surgery (and am doing just fine). And I do have travel plans this summer (although air travel is relatively safe). But taken together, recent events and upcoming plans have focused me on getting better prepared. 

I'm glad for the progress I made today. I even discovered that we have more assets than I thought!

My first post

Got the wild idea today to start a blog. We'll see where this goes. Kinda fun to try out the notion.

What have I been up to lately? 

In recent months I've been trying to learn how to lower my stress level. I had quadruple bypass surgery a year ago...a big surprise, given my relatively young age and good level of diet and fitness. I guess I have great genes for cholesterol production. Can't do much about that. And I'm male, also another risk factor. Of the five general risk factors for heart disease (gender, diet, exercise, genetics, and stress), the one I've needed to work on most is stress. So I sought out a good counselor/coach and have been learning some strategies. For example, I'm learning to let my staff know when I'm feeling stress rising inside so that they don't misread it as critical of them. (I tend to worry about stuff much more than I should.) I'm finding them wonderfully supportive. And I've learned that slowing down and deliberately doing less is good for me and those around me. I've discovered that I can face a situation and be able to say "Up until now I handled this stress this way. But I can choose to do it differently this time."

I'm encouraged by my progress. More later....