Choosing to Cheat

I had a great question asked of me this past Sunday by a guy who goes by the name Juggler for Jesus. He holds 8 or 9 world records for juggling and we had him in to do stuff for our adult worship services. The series they are doing right now is called "Family Circus". The stage looks like a big top and the music is great but that is not the point of this post. The point is to answer the question of how many hours a week should a Children's Pastor be expected to work. He is looking at taking a position at a local church and they have told him that they expect him to work 60 hrs per week. This is a great question for all of us not just Children's pastors, or ministers. How many hours a week should you work? To answer this question you have to read the book, "Choosing to Cheat" by Andy Stanley. This is one of my top 10 books that I recommend to everyone. So if you haven't read this yet go get it. Here is what the cover looks like:

This book focuses on priorities. Believe it or not but work is not at the top of that list. Andy makes the case that we are going to cheat some part of our life. We have too. There is not enough time not to cheat something and if we are going to cheat something then it should be work and not family or any other relationship for that matter. So here is what I told the Juggler for Jesus when he asked me if working 60 hrs per week was reasonable... First read the book...Second give the pastor and everyone at your church the book...Then if they still want you to work 60 hrs a week, DON"T TAKE THE JOB! By the way, I work Sunday through Thursday and get Friday and Saturday off every week. That's right... You can be jealous... Am I lazy? No. I am finally healthy and my church agrees. Thank you Horizon for letting me have family as a top priority and for still paying me like someone who knows what he is doing. How much you should get paid will be a later post. That was his follow up question.