The Disciplined Life
© 1999 Don Rogers
Early in my career as a pastor I met a lay leader whose life changed mine. This man had a sense of ownership of the church to which I had been assigned because he had held it together during the depression years and served since in about every position.
He was very conscious of the money side of our church life as you might expect. But times had changed and we needed to move ahead which meant make some improvements, spend some money. He opposed these things.
I took some advice from another pastor and went to him for a face to face conversation. He eased up some but more importantly that conversation enabled me to know him and his life style. He was a very organized and disciplined man.
As an example: I needed to borrow a pipe wrench and went to him for it. He took me down to his basement and there were his tools were hanging each in its place, each place marked with chalk on the wall so that he knew where each belonged. For example: he told me how he always set his agenda for the next day before he went to sleep at night.
While he was a busy man, a highly organized man, a disciplined man that did not preclude him from making family and devotions and his own health part of what he planned.
I was not that organized then and am not now - but I am very much more organized and have found that in this career where interruptions are the norm I can get back on track quickly because of some skills he taught me by his example.