exploring the new ways that church can absorb all your time

Well I don't know if I have blogged much about this yet, but this fall I have managed to get myself involved with my church at levels I had previously not experienced. The main one being my participating on the Pastoral Review team, which has meant attending various meetings, taking notes, writing up notes and doing a few interviews. Another is getting involved with Advent Worship planning, which again is mostly one meeting, and will involve me helping to design and create the visual aid for the season, which is really exciting because Advent is by far my most favorite time of year. Oh and then 2 weeks ago, my small group planned worship and I helped out with worship leading (although I got to do the easiest parts of the morning and it called for minimal prep time). And most recently I agreed to speak in church this coming sunday during second hour. Tim Foley will be speaking in first hour about N. Ireland and because I was there this summer they thought it would be nice for me to share during second hour (when he won't be there). So I have that to think about, oh and I still need to complete 3 interviews for the first mentioned involvement by tomorrow morning and attend a 2 hour meeting, which will follow my hour long meeting at Assembly at 9am tomorrow. So yeah, church is great, but I guess well I just have never before had it be a part of my life that added stress before, very new concept. But hey I am learning a lot about church and what it means to be a part of it that I would have never figured out otherwise. Okay now for general update about life since Sunday. -discovered that studying in the lounge is so much more productive than reading in my room (I got a good 5 hours of research done yesterday, and finished a reading and question assignment) -going to bed at 11, makes waking up at 7:30am at least marginally easier -I keep alternating between feeling hopeful that all the demands on my life will be met and feeling like I may as well give up now. But I have found reminding myself that in a year almost all of this won't matter is at least somewhat reassuring. (oh as side note I did way better than expected on my last ethics and morality test, considering that I studied for only 2 hours with my study group, however I did get a good 6 hours of sleep, maybe sleep is the answer to all my problems!) Okay now that I have filled up my allotted 20 minute break from demands, I must return to them..........