Challenge 2

One aspect of being a pastor in a multi-point parish that I had not counted on was having to arrange so much of my own time.

I suppose I just never thought about it. I mean teaching, especially in middle school, is very structured. There was maybe 5-8 hours a week that was not previously accounted for, and very often that would be taken over by one event or another. I never had enough unscheduled time to get all the planning, grading, research, mentoring, or prep-work done.

This is one way that my previous career left me not quite prepared for this particular role.

Other than some weekly meetings, and of course, Sundays, how I spread the work out during the week is up to me. For someone who has never been a great scheduler, this is a bit of a challenge. Making it even more interesting is having one day that is meeting intensive, and the other days are often completely blank and waiting for my scheduling abilities to take over.

This would be tricky on its own, but added to it is the fact that I work out of the house. There isn't really a central office. We have meetings at the various congregation's buildings, but each of us has an office at home.

Let's put it this way, having an office at home for me is like setting a ten year old in front of a a live sport game, a video gaming system playing his favorite game, and a box full of playing puppies and telling him (or her) to do homework. A child wouldn't even need to be ADD to be easily distracted.

Well that is me. Easily distracted. Did I turn the stove off? Are there still clothes in the wash? Oh, I forgot to put the trash out! All those questions that get shoved to the back of my mind when I get to work no longer have an opportunity to get placed in the back of the head.

Figure out a schedule for the week.

Figure out how to follow the schedule without getting distracted by being at home.

These two aspects of my internship would be cakewalk for many people. For me they are challenges. Not challenges that can not be handled or adapted to, but challenges just the same. add to it the sometimes overwhelming schedule of the parish and some days it takes me an hour or two to figure out what to do that day.

Yet that is what internship is for. To help each person figure out what he or she will have to be aware of in their own work life. Well I definitely will have to be aware that scheduling my own time is not something that comes naturally to me. I absolutely love it when there is so much going on in a week, that I am grasping every free moment to get the office and paper work done. That is how I function best. However I am learning to schedule my own time in a less distracting and more productive manner.