Your Personal Pace, Part 1

July 16, 2008

I recently started driving a new car. It’s a 2001 black Ford Crown Victoria with the Police Interceptor package. It started its life as a Detective car with the Beverly Hills Police Department. Especially as a Chaplain, it’s a really fun car to drive!

The story of how I got it is fun in and of itself, but it’s not the point here. The Crown Vic replaces a 1989 Honda Prelude I had been driving for the last two years. It too was a really fun car. Sunroof and four-wheel steering. Forget the dime, this thing turned on a pinhead!

There are practical reasons for the change. Primarily, the Prelude was a two-door with not much of a back seat. Just not a family car. My 13 and 12 year old sons could no longer fit in the back seat. The Crown Vic is much more spacious and four doors work well for the family.

The biggest downside is the gas mileage, particularly in this economy! The Prelude was a sipper, where the Crown Vic is a guzzler.

Why upsize from a sipper to a guzzler? Well, bottom line is that the Crown Vic was given to me. So was the Prelude, but when the Crown Vic was offered, I knew I had to receive it. The fact that it’s a guzzler is a limit that I trade off for the family space.

It’s an analogy to me of how God gives each of us not just our spiritual gifts and abilities, but our personalities and physical bodies. When you mix all those things together, they come out with a design that includes your own personal pace of life.

I am a believer in Pastors discovering what their pace of life is and then living in that. The fact that most of us Pastors look at the pace of life of other Pastors and believe we must live at their pace rather than our own is a real problem. Too often, it leads to burnout, dissatisfaction, disillusionment and sometimes even more deeply staggering consequences.

What would happen if someone REALLY freed you to discover the pace that God has given you and then freed you to live by it? I want to round table that with you this week. Let’s talk some about what elements of life impact or help define what your pace of life is. Any initial thoughts?

Posted by Paul | Filed Under Burnout, Church life, Church people, Expectations, Leadership, Life, Margin, Pace of life, Pastor, Personal Pace, Uncategorized 

Comments

6 Responses to “Your Personal Pace, Part 1”

  1. Bernie on July 16th, 2008 10:10 pm

    The moral of the story is that all pastors should consider driving old skool muscle cars. This leads to satisfaction, breaking of sterotypical barriers of clergy transportation and allows for extra power when someone envades your boundary and marginal space. It also has the capactiy of kicking up your personal pace without wearing you out. Though not good on gas – it is a kick in the pants.

  2. Lauren on July 16th, 2008 10:36 pm

    So…I’m not a pastor, but I’m married to one. This issue of personal pace of life is extremely applicable not only to me personally but also to my marriage and our ministry together.

    My initial thought to your post is that working outside your own “personal pace of life” is minimally a recipe for disaster and in the extreme an invitation for burnout. As a couple we’ve gone down that burnout road recently. In an odd way it ended up being a gift of sorts because it really allowed us to evaluate how we had gotten to that point and then make some strategic steps toward a healthier pace of life. We were so blessed to be ministering in a church that has responded really well to the change in our lives, marriage and ministry. I imagine there are plenty of churches that allow their pastors to burnout and then move onto the next pastor who is crazy enough to try to fill the shoes of his predecessor.

    I think our biggest struggle in this area now is refusing to feel guilty about owning up to and living within the pace of life that God has called us to. It is SO easy to get sucked into the comparison game with other churches and pastors (and pastor’s wives). Why do we do that to each other?

    It is a daily choice to embrace the pace that God has given us personally and as a ministry couple. That’s what makes it tough AND the fact that for the most part the people you are ministering to are more than happy to take everything you’re willing to give. If you allow the people around you or your church to decide what your pace of life is going to be you are headed for trouble:)

  3. Paul on July 16th, 2008 11:56 pm

    Bernie – you could be on to something! Rock ….I mean,….RIDE on!

    Lauren – great perspective! Thanks for participating in the conversation and bringing further enlightenment to this concept!

  4. Bernie on July 17th, 2008 5:02 pm

    Lauren – what drives us may not be the church or the church leadership – mine is always telling me to slow down and then usually ask for a favor! SMILE! Often what drives us is an internal desire to earn God’s favor, a broken model of work ethic, a running so long and hard for so long we forgot to stop and refuel. When people speak of pace, I don’t fully relate since I have been running hard for 30 years. Some early rests and family vacations when our kids were small but in the last five years very little change in pace or scene. The monster: Others choose not to help you because they think you have all you need and run too fast for them anyways. The other monster: YOU have lost your way and true self.

  5. Kevin M. on July 18th, 2008 5:24 pm

    Great topic Paul! Very applicable to my life. My wonderful and wise wife (Lauren) already provided great insights from our experiences so I don’t have much to add. :)

  6. Your Personal Pace, Part 5 : Pastor For Life | Healthy Life and Ministry for Pastors on September 3rd, 2008 11:09 pm

    [...] want to keep moving in this series of posts on your personal pace. Click on these link to get to Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part [...]

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