Saturday, January 30, 2010

Personal Health and Growth

This week I was up in Redding, CA taking a course at Tozer Seminary. I have been working on Seminary for about 5 years now and this last course falls in my top 5 of favorites. I've been in ministry over 7 years now and have been a pastor for over 6 of those years and this material was new to me.
So many times as pastors we go through life almost driven by the craziness of the rush instead of the pace of God. We allow unhealthy boundaries to decide our future instead of planned out, prayerful, decisions. This week helped me to identify areas in my life where I have allowed unhealthy patterns to form and not keep them in check. I wanted to take some time in this blog to just point out some areas we discussed that especially stuck out to me and how I want to change because of them.

*Boundaries are critical for your sanity

*How do pastors embrace emotions and not just "deal" with life situations that arise

*What happens in the Limbic System can effect Brain Stem function

*Teenagers don't have a fully developed Neo-Cortex (brain) and therefore cannot fully think through situations

*What are my personal expectations and who defines those?

*Not all stress is bad; but when you don't manage your stress it gets out of control and can consume you

*Listen to the rhythm of your body

*90% of relational conflict arises from the packaging of the communication and not the context

*Boundaries preserve us for the long haul and create space in our lives for what matter most

*Conflict can bring great health and growth in our life

This course has started some thinking in my life that has never been expressed to me. I am going to work with Charity about outlining healthy boundaries that will allow me to: Love God, Love my family, and be a great pastor. This will require me to say "no" to some great opportunities but it will establish a healthy pattern in my life so I can sustain in ministry and not burn out. Please pray for me to comprehend this material so I can last in ministry and see thousands of people come to Christ in my life!

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