It’s been a busy two weeks!  Last week I went to the All Access conference in Baton Rouge at Healing Place Church, attended a service at Jimmy Swaggert’s Church (seriously -no kidding-look for a blog soon on it) , preached 2x at Thrive then got on a plane and went to Kenosha, WI to sit with some of the nation’s best church planters in a coaching network…

The ironic part is the message I gave last Sunday. It was on Margin….the place between what you HAVE and what you NEED.

The last two weeks have reminded me that I need to exist with more margin – when I have a schedule or lifestyle that is literally to busy to stop, reflect or love my kids….I need to throw on the brakes. I am already blocking off time this summer to take a vacation and make sure my internal batteries are FULL so we can continue to make it easy for people to follow and find God through our church. I have also realized that when my batteries are full I am the best dad, husband, leader and pastor.

How do you discover TRUE MARGIN?

1. REALIZE THIS REALITY: If Satan, our spiritual enemy, cannot make us really, really bad he will try to make us really, really busy. Some of us become so busy at doing lesser things, that we miss out on the most important things, we are distracted from the very best.
2. Put space in YOUR schedule.
3. PRUNE YOUR ACTIVITIES PERIODICALLY. 1 Corinthians 6:12 Paul says, “Everything is permissible for me but not everything is beneficial.” What’s he saying?  God’s given you a free will.  You’re permitted to do anything.  You can go out and overload your schedule ten times and God’s not going to stop you.  You are permitted to totally make stupid decisions.  But it doesn’t mean that it’s the beneficial thing to pack your life full of.  Proverbs 20:30 says, “Sometimes it takes a painful situation to make us change our ways.”
4. DO LESS AND TRUST GOD MORE

Remember – the best things in LIFE HAPPEN IN THE MARGIN – go get it…

Tom