Lunch and Lights

I would like to briefly comment on two aspects of yesterday.

Lunch
I went to lunch with a friend and over our Baja Fresh burritos we discussed time management and priorities. I have come to a point in my life where I am being pulled in far more directions than I could ever handle. Over the past six months I have been trying to decide how I can best use the time which the Lord has given me. Different priorities have different levels of importance.

High Level Priorities

• Time with God. (If I don't have this the rest of my life falls apart.)


• Time with family. (This will include my wife and children if I get married.)


• Time with the body of Christ. (The Word, prayer, fellowship, worship, service)


• Time for long term ministry goals. (Things which will, God willing, impact eternity.)
  

Lower Level Priorities (Things which enable me to accomplish the above)

• Time to sleep. If I don't have enough sleep I sin a lot more. I also can be 50% more productive on seven hours of sleep than I can on five. By sleeping less I have two more hours of daytime, but I get 50% less done so a better use of time is sleeping seven hours.
  
• Time to eat. If I eat bad food all the time I get sick, feel sluggish, and can't function at full capacity. If I spend the extra twenty minutes a day and few dollars a week to eat better it will affect my current performance, and keep me healthier in the long run.
  
• Time to exercise. Even a twenty minute walk before I go to bed gets my blood moving and gives me a chance to think.
  
• Time to work. Although work in a lot of sense ties in with ministry, for the most part it is still a lower level priority which enables me to do the above. How can I most effectively use my time at work to pursue long term goals as well as provide short term income? I have five calendars I am living off right now. I have been working through the minutes of my week to structure things to be the most economical as possible. (e.g. a friend and I both drive to Burbank twice a week to pick up photo orders. If I pick up his orders one day, and he get mine the other we each only drive there once) or (e.g. I get paid a certain amount to create photographic images; I make no money on the seven hours a week I spend on emails and paperwork and packaging. I could pay someone the amount I make in one hour shooting to do seven hours of externals. That’s six hours I save by hiring out the externals and I still don’t lose any money.) All this to say that this week has been one of determined restructuring to give priority to higher level things.
  

Lights
Day 3 of setup for our new studio brought us black walls and an array of backdrops hanging from the ceiling. We are almost ready for our grand opening tomorrow. God is so good in working out all the details for this endeavor so quickly and seamlessly.