Sunday, May 31, 2009

WIPEOUT

I once heard Wayne Smith, then the Senior Minister of Southland Christian Church in Lexington Ky. talk about his Sundays. After preaching multiple services on Sunday Monring and then again Sunday night, he would come home and his wife would want to watch "In Touch" with Dr. Charles Stanley. He did not think that was all that great, although Stanley was his wife's "favorite" preacher. He told us that when he comes home after a long day, he did not want to see Stanley, but preferred seeing Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry, say, "Go ahead, make my day."

So today has been long... the whole week has been long... Many meetings...some counseling, lots of thinking and dreaming about the future, and writing a sermon, thinking about future sermons... then two sermons this morning,,, visiting a Life group this afternoon and then off to FIGHT NIGHT tonight. All of it was good... but it drained me more than usual.

This is all a pace of a day I think that i can handle until I actually do it... and then I get a sick feeling... the "wall" is fast approaching and I crash... It was too much. I have crashed... I have this feeling of being closed in...words slow down, and some words do not make it from my brain to my mouth. Sentences are harder to complete. It is all a sign that I have gone too far. This week felt alot like some of the weeks before strokes three years ago... you know the kind where you don;t feel like you have control over much, you are reacting to lots of crisis and the energy is flowing out of you...

So I get home, through on some shorts... start thinking about my next week...decided to watch some TV...nothing on ( basketball finals begins Thursday). Oh , there is Hockey... now that looks like a treat! NOT!

So we finish off the TNT movie ( TWISTER). and then hit the DVR button... What is left to watch from the previous week?

Well, it is highly spiritual. It is uplifting... No, it is not Charles Stanley, or Dr. David Jeremiah... ( I like them both) No, on this night its not Dirty Harry..."

The winner is.... WIPEOUT.(ABC).. That is no conincidence since I am totally wipeout. That is about as mindless as you can get at the end of the day. And it will help me shut it down. Sometimes that is what I need.

I am shutting it down this week , hibernating, writing sermons, study guides from Moses and basically going to get two weeks work done in one...so that I can be gone for 3 1/2 weeks. One week in Chicago... 2 plust weeks on the North Florida Coast.

But for tonight, it is about watching people make total fools of themselves by trying to navigate a obstacle course that is impossible to conquer. Now that is entertainment.

Got to Go.... they have the slippery course coming up...looks cool.

Charlie

2 comments:

My Dear Gs... said...

Dad- I'm glad you know when to shut it down now! Hope you are really able to hibernate this week and de-stress. Drink some chamomile tea. :-) I've taken to it recently and it is quite soothing.

Steve said...

That's hillious! Wipeout is my family's "laugh outloud" show ... and I also went to Wayne Smith's church when we lived in Lexington (although Mike Breaux was the preacher at the time - he did a great Michael Jackson "moonwalk" once!)