This is where I am

I've been taking a little stock of my life lately. Quite frankly, because I'm feeling a tad thin. Not in weight, but endurance. I/we seem to have had a lot going on for awhile, and we are both somewhat worn down a little.

In analyzing why, I thought it might be helpful to simply assess where I am... what I am currently involved with. There are really only four main areas:

WORK
I have been fortunate to be getting full-time hours at the Y. They haven't exactly been 'stable' in that I've had to do some switching of shifts and covering for the boss while he was on vacation, but at least it's getting better.

My "normal" (if there is such a thing) routine is to open three days a week (5am-1pm), work noon-5pm on Wednesday, and 9am-5pm Friday. That leaves me a little wiggle room in case I need to cover for someone else. Although... last week I opened every day at 5 am.

THE PARKING LOT
I am happy to note that baseball season is over halfway done! Hurray! There are still twenty-some home games left, but I can at least imagine a light at the end of this tunnel.

About every other week/weekend there is a 6-game home-stand where I have to oversee the parking lot beside our church. I've shared before how it doesn't really belong to the church, but whoever owns it allows us to run it and then donates the money to the church youth group (apparently we have one). For some silly reason I volunteered to oversee the 70-game home schedule and take care of set-up/tear-down, scheduling volunteers, counting and dispensing the money collected, as well as any other special circumstances (like when we have to share the lot or allow for other events to take place simultaneously).

It hasn't been 'terrible,' but it is starting to wear on me. The worst part is when I have to stay late at the lot - and out in the hot sun - and then get up at 4 the next morning for work. I probably average 2-4 hours per game, and it doesn't really make any difference if someone else is taking the tickets or not. Set-up and handling the money are the two biggest chores.

If I do this again next year there are some changes I'd like to make. One is to maybe have some other people involved. If, say, three different people each took a couple months at a time, that would help. We will see.

RUNNING
Another time-consuming aspect of my life has been training for this marathon. It just takes time to run. I am currently at 4/7/4 during the week (4 miles Tuesday/7 Wednesday/4 Thursday), and a long run on Saturday. This coming Saturday I am scheduled to do 14 miles. Those numbers will increase as the weeks pass (sometimes taking a brief step back before going up further).

My legs/knees/feet actually feel pretty good. I just feel a little run-down though (no pun intended). I don't know if it's lack of sleep, too much vodka, or a combination of things. At any rate, this is an area of my life I don't want to let slide. I've had a full marathon on my wish-list for too long, and this is the furthest I've gotten so far. So, again, we will see. It feels good to have something I am working at/towards.

COACHING GROUP
The only other thing taking up time in my life is my Thursday coaching group. I am a participant in this group, and I suppose it could be called a "discipleship coaching group." My pastor leads it, and it's with people from all over the country. There are probably a half dozen of us. I believe he started doing this as a part of 3dm, but has since left that organization (for the same reasons I soured on it).

It really only requires an hour a week for the actual internet gathering, but there is outside reading and homework. I am somewhat enjoying it, actually. It's just one of those things I need to schedule.

OTHERWISE
Beyond that... I do still meet with Tom once a week for breakfast. Hopefully this will be a lifelong thing. We've been doing it... I don't know... since 1999. It is still good for my soul, and probably helps me in ways I don't even think about.

I've been trying to read at least several days per week. I can't recall the name of the book right now - something about 'The Discipleship Difference' by Robert Logan. It's not bad, for a church book.

Otherwise... I try to sleep or nap, and keep my commitments to a minimum. I'm trying to make this the marathon summer. It is occasionally interrupted with visits to the parents and others, and I don't really consider them interruptions. Eventually the parking lot will end, the marathon will be done, and then I hope to enjoy some boring evenings on the couch with the love of my life again.

So, there ya go.