Personal NewsI sure hope it is okay for pastors to have bad days 'cause I've sure had one today - mostly due to the cold. First my garage door was frozen shut (because my oldest child - bless her heart - wanted to help me out by shoveling the drive, so she used the garage door to help scoop the snow onto her shovel...). Now the weather-proofing seal at the bottom is broken from my attempts to unstick the door.
Then I heard my sump pump running constantly because the hose outside was frozen. In the process of unhooking the hose so the water could flow out, I not only broke the hose (which was plastic, so no big deal) I also broke off part of the pvc pipe coming out of the house (which probably is a big deal). I'm just thankful that we caught the sump pump running before the motor burned out - which happened to us LAST winter. Anyone have a creative yet really cheap way of getting water away from my house in a manner that won't freeze in the winter? (Everyone tells me heat tape, but the heat tape package says "do not bury or allow to touch the ground" - that doesn't work for a sump pump hose.)
What a way to start the day...
Personal Thoughts
I just read the Swerve blog post about Failing Quickly. Part of me deeply agrees - life is too short to keep watering a dead plant. I've seen many ministries limp along because those leading them thought it would be "admitting failure" by shutting it down. So tons of energy and resources go into something that ends up shutting down in the end anyway.
But I highly value perseverance. The Scriptures tells us it will develop wisdom, maturity, and godly character within us. So I think there is there a balance between failing quickly and perseverance, but where is it?
I do know this - in ministry or business it's probably okay to fail quickly at times. In life it isn't. Failing quickly on marriage should not be an option. Failing quickly on a loan is a really bad idea. Failing quickly on your closest and most faithful friends or family should never be seriously considered. Structures and methods can be quickly failed, but people and integrity shouldn't. So while I don't know the line between perseverance and healthily failing quickly (that was probably really poor grammar!), I do know there are some things we should never fail quickly.
3 comments:
Hey erin,
There are these metal tubes that people put in thier gutters to keep them from freezing over in the winter. They might work for what you. I know Erin had them in her mansfeild house when she lived there.
Just a thought
Z
o yeah, i forgot to mention, they are electric so you have to plug them in when you want the ice to melt.
I've been re-routing the sump to the utility sink in the winter when ours freezes up.
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