Planning

I have spent a good bit of the summer getting ready for the beginning of the academic year. Meeting with students, email conversations, lunches, talking to pastors, ready and presbytery meetings - in some ways it has seemed like a whirlwind. I just about have the Fall calendar set up, and I am really excited about what we have lined up for the fall.

But then in some ways, planning seems to run counter to my nature. Anyone who knows me knows this, but it seems to me that we can plan and plan and plan, and that in the end the best thing to do might be to sit around and relax or talk or pray or ask hard questions that might not have an answer. In my mind, I know that if the need arises, then we can do that. I also know that a set calendar creates more flexibility for those relax times.

The most important thing we can do is build relationships -with each other, with God, with our neighbors, with our closet friends. When we take the time to build relationships, to foster and develop and maintain those relationships that are sacred to us and that help keep us whole, then we find ourselves better equipped for the service that Christ calls us to.

So in my mind, we have a calendar. We will publish it, post it, and talk it up. But what we will really do, the main plan for the Fall, is to strengthen relationships.