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In Hold Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love, Sue Johnson writes, “Chronic obsessive overwork and burnout have become part of our culture. We think it’s normal.” —Jim L. Wilson Hold Me Tight, 213 Exodus 33:14 (HCSB) Then He replied, “My presence will go ⌊with you⌋, and I will give you…

A China Eastern airplane had to abort its July 8, 2014 early-morning landing into the Wuhan airport because the air traffic controllers were sleeping. –Jim L. Wilson http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/19/us-china-airlines-investigation-idUSKBN0GJ0OK20140819 1 Corinthians 16:13 (HCSB) Be alert, stand…

The man, who created the much publicized formula behind the idea of Blue Monday, says it was nothing more than a public relations gimmick. Dr. Cliff Amall has a master’s degree in research methods and was researching stress management and depression when he was asked to put together the formula for a…

In Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives, Richard Swenson writes: “Busyness is not a synonym for kingdom work-it is only busyness.” --Margin, Kindle Loc. 1176 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson Psalm 46:10 (KJV) “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be…

In the book, Soul Custody, author Steven Smith makes the case that believers need to choose to move toward a less busy and more disciplined life. Smith writes, ”Every single person who feels more dead than alive, more tired than energized, more burned-out than motivated, more unfulfilled than thriving…

The Center for Disease Control has released new studies indicating a third of U.S. adults sleep less than seven hours a night. As a result, many of them report trouble concentrating, remembering, and driving. In one study, results indicated about 35 percent of people surveyed in 12 states reported they…

In Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives, Richard Swenson writes: “In 1879, Thomas Edison produced the first electric light. If the clock broke up the day, the light bulb broke up the night. Illuminati was flushed with its presumed victory over yet another…

In Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives, Richard Swenson writes: “Even when progress does give us "leisure," the leisure is not leisurely. Instead, it is jammed with multi-tasking actions and expectations: watching TV while surfing the web while checking…

Top Ten Ways to Know When to Leave a Job • Your opinions don’t count • You are as tired when you get up as when you went to bed • Respect is lacking • You’ve lost your sense of purpose • Communication has broken down • You have serious doubts about your ability to make a difference • You find yourself…

I. Call from God Commitment to serve High ideals II. Too many to serve Surrounded by a sea of human need III. Physical exhaustion Abuse of body Strain on family, marriage, and other relationships IV. Helplessness, hopelessness Trapped feeling V. Resentment at parishioners/clients sarcasm and biting humor…

BUSYNESS In his book, Satisfy your Soul, Bruce Demarest writes, “For many of us, the problem stems from the fact that we have forfeited God in the busyness of life’s activities-even church work. A recent study of two dozen conservative Christians who left the church found that while most were actively…

BUSYNESS In his book, Satisfy your Soul, Bruce Demarest writes, “When our lies feel mechanical and driven, we are effectively closed to the grace of God. We may busily serve God but, ironically, the God we serve becomes a stranger. Our lives and Christian service echo with a haunting emptiness.” --Satisfy…

“If you could look into a crystal ball and see yourself in ten years working at the same job in the same place as you are now, what would be your gut reaction?” When people working in the helping professions (ranging from paraprofessional addiction counselors to psychiatrists) are asked this question,…

The first cause is poor communication. An imbalance between work and personal time can also foster burnout. A third cause of burnout is that medicine operates as a business, thereby inviting all the stresses of a business. Fear of malpractice suits, another cause of burnout, haunts many health care professionals.…

In my stress and burn-out seminars, one in five clergy scores high on the burnout rating scale. Among clergy who have been in their parish for ten years or more, the number doubles. These clergy still perform their pastoral functions with skill and concern, but they have lost their zest and vitality.…

In his book, Satisfy your Soul, Bruce Demarest writes, “We schedule ourselves to the eyebrows and leave little time for reflection on matters of spiritual significance. The U.S. military, which lives euphemisms, calls this ‘task saturation.’” --Satisfy your Soul, 125. Illustration by Jim L. Wilson Psalm…

In his book, Satisfy your Soul, Bruce Demarest writes, “Every one of us must make a strategic decision to break the cycle of perpetual busyness and learn how to quiet our souls before the Lord. We need to move from being externally driven performance machines to internally motivated intimates of God.”…

How could you be burned out? You were never on fire to begin with.

Out of Gas Susan and I entered into our marriage with equal assets and liabilities. I had an old Ford Courier pick-up and she had a Mazda sports car. She owed some money on some family land in Colorado and I owed a couple thousand dollars on my student loan from college. The debts were more permanent…

Comedian Joe Griffith said: “You know you’re suffering from job burnout when your spouse has to connect jumper cables to the bottoms of your pajamas to get you out of bed in the morning...So many of your brain cells have died you can’t watch the Dukes of Hazzard unless you’ve got someone with you to…

BUSYNESS In Seeking the Face of God, Gary Thomas writes, “A drug addict cannot expect to give up drugs without paying the price of withdrawal. We who have been drugged by diversions cannot expect to enter the quiet without a struggle. Our souls will roar for diversion, the fix that saves us from God’s…

BUSYNESS "I do not mean to make an idol of health, but it does seem to me that at least some of us have made an idol of exhaustion. The only time we know we have done enough is when we are running on empty and when the ones we love most are the ones we see the least. When we lie down to sleep at night,…

The Busy Man If you want to get a favor done By some obliging friend, And want a promise safe and sure On which you may depend, Don’t go to him who always has Much leisure time to plan, But if you want your favor done, Just ask the busy man. The man of leisure. never has A moment he can snare; He’s busy…

A small town preacher rushed to the railroad station every day to watch the train go by. Members of the congregation thought it a childish pastime and asked him to quit it. “No, gentlemen,” he said firmly, “I preach your sermons, I teach a class and urge everyone to attend. I bury your dead, I marry…

EVER BEEN DEPRESSED? KNOW A COLLEAGUE WHO MIGHT BE? HAVE A SPOUSE THAT IS? When was the last time you read Psalm 88? I'm telling you — there was a man who was really going through some rough water. I was interviewing a physician recently for a future edition of Pastor to Pastor. She is a delightful lady…