Seize The Day

Today's Daily Soap {Scripture | Observation | Application | Prayer}
FOR TODAY'S FULL READING, CLICK THE TITLE LINK ABOVE.

• S: Jesus said, "No procrastination. No backward looks. You can't put God's kingdom off till tomorrow. Seize the day." Luke 9:62 [MSG]
  
• O: There is no time to waste.
  
• A: "Seize the day." For there may be no tomorrow. The coming of the Lord is close at hand. It will happen at a time when it is least expected, with no warning. Every day that we live could be our last. Now is the time to accept the gift of salvation. Now is the time to stand up and follow God. Now is the time to share the Word to all the Earth. Now could be the only time we have left. Seize the day.
  
• P: Father, help me to spread Your Word in daily interactions with others. Show me the opportunities. Help me to seize the day, Lord.
  

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Joe

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Time Tracking - Analysis

So what have I discovered over the past week of tracking every waking minute. Most shockingly, probably, is that I spend more time in a week on myself than on anything else. Even more than work. Can that possibly be? 

It sure doesn't feel like it, but more than a third of my week is spent on selfish endeavors, while a third is spent at work (or going to work), and a fourth of my week is spent with my family (or doing things for my family). That leaves less than 5% of my week devoted to my spiritual walk with God.

As tedious as it has been keeping track of everything I do for a full week, it sure is an eye opener. Not only do I need to spend more time with God, but also with my family. My priorities seem to be a bit out of whack.

Though it can be argued that the time I spend at work is actually in support of my family, I still need to move the needle away from self and toward God and Family. That must be my goal going forward.

Your comments?

Joe

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Time Tracking - Day 7

Today is the last day of my seven day challenge to keep track of every waking minute. About two hours of wasted time today, bringing the weekly total somewhere between fourteen and fifteen.

Tomorrow, as the last post in this series, I will analyze how I used my time over the past seven days.

Your comments are welcome.



Joe

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Time Tracking - Day 6

Only one more day left in this Time Tracking exercise. What started as a challenge by a Pastor to identify how much time is actually wasted in a day cannot end soon enough for me. It's a tedious matter, recording every minute of the waking day.

Today was especially difficult to keep track of, as things can be quite hectic in retail on a Saturday. I wasn't able to keep track of my work related tasks in as much detail as I have done throughout the week.

What I have learned is that I don't waste as much time as my wife probably thinks I do. Seriously, it seems that over the course of the week I have wasted approximately half a day: twelve hours and eighteen minutes. Nearly eight hours of that time came from just two days. Days that I felt virtually no motivation to get anything accomplished.

Today comes in at just over an hour, and as my wife has some "honey do" tasks for me to complete tomorrow, I'm sure I won't get to waste as much time as I would like to waste on a Sunday.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated.



Joe

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Time Tracking - Day 5

Day five in my effort to track every waking moment for one week. Here it is. Your comments are welcome.



Joe

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Time Tracking - Day 4

Today was an interesting day off, and not much time wasted today. I expected to find myself wasting lots of time just hanging around the house relaxing, maybe on the computer, but we spent most of the day out of the house doing things together as a family.

I did spend a good deal of time online fighting with the president of my Homeowner's Association about the recent removal of some Mitch Daniels for Governor campaign signs from my yard. Briefly, the placement of any sign in a yard for any purpose other than to announce the sale of a property is prohibited by my subdivision's covenant. This is a common clause in subdivision covenants. However, for several months there have been three campaign signs for Barack Obama on display in the subdivision. Therefore, when the Mitch for Governor campaign showed up to place the requested signs in my lawn, I didn't think it would be an issue (due to lack of enforcement of the covenant elsewhere in the subdivision). Our home is on a corner lot, so two signs were placed, one on each street bordering our house. A few days later I found them lying in the driveway by the garage door. I toured the subdivision to see that none of the Obama signs had been removed. One of the Obama signs was in the yard near the house placed in the landscaping against a bush, so I relocated one of my Mitch signs similarly. Last night I came home from work to find the newly placed Mitch sign completely missing. I apparently started a firestorm when I emailed the HOA president asking for information about the removal of my sign. I pointed out that the only campaign signs that had been removed for Mitch for Governor signs from my yard and another yard down the street, and that there were three homes with Obama signs up. I pointed out that there were several fences erected in violation of covenant guidelines, as well as other structures. To make a long story short, the HOA president toured the subdivision again this evening and found two other signs up that she would be having taken care of.

Make no mistake, I will abide by the covenant as long as every resident in the community is held to the same standard of enforcement. However, I fully intend to make my way onto the HOA board and make some changes to the covenants (and the enforcement of them) as well as orchestrating the ouster of the current HOA president.

I also spent a little time on the phone today with a new author who will be releasing his first novel before the end of the year. I will be reading and reviewing his novel over the coming weeks, and hope to have some great things to say about his work. Stay tuned for that.

As for today's Time Tracker -- if you'll remember, I am responding to a challenge from Pastor Derek Duncan of East 91st Street Christian Church by tracking every waking minute over the next week (three more days to go) -- here it is.

Your comments are welcome.



Joe

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Time Tracking - Day 3

Today was a much more productive day than yesterday, with less than an hour of wasted time. Pretty good. It will be interesting to see how much time is wasted tomorrow on my day off.

Your comments are welcome.



Joe

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Time Tracking - Day Two

As I continue my week long effort to track how I spend my time each day, I present the following account of my day. It should be clear that I wasn't very motivated to be at work today. I spent the majority of the night up sick, and felt the effects of it all day. To the tune of roughly five hours of my day wasted away (though at some points I enjoyed wasting the time away).

Your comments are welcome.



Joe

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Tracking My Time

During Sunday's sermon at what my wife and I now believe may be our new church home (more on that tomorrow, I hope), Pastor Derek Duncan challenged the congregation to keep track of how they spend their time for one week, to determine just how much of their time is wasted. I have decided to do just that.

In my time tracker, which I will share here each evening over the next seven day, I have grouped my time into four categories:

• God (things that are done for spiritual enrichment


• Family (time that is spent with my wife and/or children


• Work (tasks done for the purpose of career and income


• Self (things that I do for my own pleasure and enjoyment

I have allowed myself limited time for certain things, such as only checking email twice per day, etc. Any time over that limit will be considered as waste. I have also noted what time I feel was wasted because it either wasn't mission critical (at work), didn't enrich me spiritually, emotionally, physically, or intellectually.

Your comments are welcome.



Joe

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E91: Children of Light

Today, as my wife and I may have finally put an end to our church shopping and found a new church home in Indianapolis, I wanted to share some of my notes from today's sermon at East 91st Street Christian Church, affectionately referred to as E91. The topic of the sermon was Children of Light, and the message was taken mostly from the fifth chapter of Ephesians.

• How do we live as children of light?
• -- Use time for a moral purpose -- you never get it back again.

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:15-16 [NIV]

• -- Walk in wisdom.
• -- How can I use my time more effectively?
• -- For one week, write down how you use your time -- you will be amazed at how much time you waste.
• -- Redeem the time.
• -- Ask God to give you good things to do with your time instead.
• -- Don't waste the precious time that you have.
• -- Be filled with the Holy Spirit.
• -- You are filled with the Holy Spirit at the time that you accept Christ as your savior. In this context, being "filled" with the Holy Spirit means to let the Holy Spirit dominate your life.

I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. John 16:20 [NIV]

And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. Acts 13:52 [NIV]

• -- Make a choice.
• -- You must make a choice to be involved.
• -- This is a daily choice, not just a one time thing.
• -- Confess and yield.
• -- Deal with the things that might prevent the Holy Spirit from dominating you.
• -- Confessing means to tell God what he already knows. He wants to hear it.
• -- God wants us to yield, but we have to make that choice.
• -- Walk by faith.
• -- Actively participate in the fact that you've surrendered to God's will.
• -- Don't sit and wait for direction. God has given His direction in the Bible. If He wants to redirect you, He will interrupt you with new directions.
• -- The goal of a Christian is not to go to church, soak things up like a sponge, then live like it doesn't matter in his/her life.
• What are the results of being filled with the Holy Spirit?

Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, Ephesians 5:19 [NIV]

• -- Speaking and singing.
• -- When the Holy Spirit is guiding you, you can't help but to share that in word and song.
• -- Not just words, but tangible activites: giving, being nice, doing.
• -- Giving thanks.

always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:20 [NIV]

or although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Romans 1:21 [NIV]

• -- Thank God for being in control of life regardless of the circumstances.
• -- Trust God, even when you don't get your way.
• -- We need to get past our desire to be comfortable and safe.
• -- Be submitting to all.

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Ephesians 5:21 [NIV]

• -- Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. treat others as if they are more important than you are/
• When I do something wrong, I want grace and mercy. When you do something wrong, I want justice. Why?
• -- Lay down your life for others and love others.
• -- Risk your life to be sure that others have a chance to know Christ.
• When the prodigal son deserved justice, his father gave him love instead.

This sermon had me thinking about what things I do to waste my time. I'm sure there are several things I do on a daily basis that don't contribute to the Kingdom of God, don't expand myself intellectually or spiritually or emotionally, or don't help my family to grow. I'm going to be working on this over the next week as I take daily inventory of my time and see where I can trim away some of the fat. I'll share details in a future article.

Send feedback to Joe by email, or by calling 317-644-6129.

Your comments?


Joe

podsafe music network | ioda promonet | magnatune | airplay direct 
ariel publicity | kennedy resource development | populuxe records | indie heaven
miles high productions | iris distribution | chavis records