168 Hours

I have mentioned Arlin Sorensen in one of my earlier posts. I have a great deal of respect for him as he is a terrific mentor and an outstanding model as Christian business leader. He frequently reminds us that we each have 168 hrs. per week. We need to be very deliberate about how we spend them, because once they are gone, we can't get them back.

Several weeks ago he challenged me to begin Journaling . You may recall that was the challenge that also gave birth to this blog. At any rate, I am very much a "rookie" journaler (is that a word?). Here is my method. I have a devotional journal with pages just a bit smaller than a memo pad. Each night, just before bed, I quickly recount my day, from the time my knees hit the floor in the morning (for prayer), right up to that moment. I try to document those moment throughout the day where I felt the presence of God. It might have been just a thought in my mind. Or, perhaps a conversation with a friend. I jot them down. Now, this is the key part for me, when I come to the end of the page, I STOP! There are no two page entries.

Why? You tell me... Actually, I can think of several good reasons, but I'd be more interested in why you think that a person might want to limit their journal entries.

This has been a setup for what I really wanted to say. The more I become sensitive to those "168 hours" the more deliberate I become about investing them wisely. Here is an example. I used to meet regularly with two guys from work. We meet every Wednesday evening, for dinner, just prior to our mid-week church service. It wasn't really as small group meeting, as we has no agenda and no formal curriculum. It wasn't really an "accountability" partner thing as I believe that is a one-on-one deal, but there was certainly an aspect of that in our time together. What it really was, at least to me, it was authentic community. A couple of guys getting together on a regular basis, just to see what Jesus would do when we all showed up. For some reason, over time, various things started to disrupt our meeting. Finally they just stopped.

Today, Tom, one of those guys came by my office. After the usual small talk, he came right out and said that he missed those times together. He missed the presence of God that we felt when we were gathered together as Brothers in Christ. That, my friends was an "Ah Ha!" moment. That was not only worthy of an entry in my journal, but a special posting to this blog. THAT is WHY God gives us 168 hours per week to invest in other people. I had all I could do to contain myself as I said, "It would be my pleasure to meet with you again. You name the time and the place an I will be there." I can't think of a better way to invest 1/168th of my week!