If you could choose one adjective to describe your family, which would it be?

Funny?  Crazy?  Organized?  Close?  Caring?  Strained?

I bet that more than a few of us would say that the word "frantic" describes us well.

Whether you're a single woman juggling job interviews, lunch with friends, two volleyball leagues, and volunteering at the shelter or the family of five running from practice to recitals to meetings to practice to another meeting to a tournament to another practice (sound familiar?), you probably feel frantic on occasion.

I just finished reading a fantastic book on taking hold of your frantic family and providing some sanity and clarity as to who you are and where you're going.  The book is called "The 3 Big Questions for a Frantic Family" by Patrick Lencioni.  I believe it's a book that all families should read, especially Christian families.

Here's why I'm concerned about what I see in our culture:

I never, and I mean never, run into a family that has free time.  It doesn't matter the size of the family or the age of its members, everyone is busy.  Kids are busy.  Teens are busy.  Retirees are busy.  Everyone!  That's not necessarily a bad thing except that often families sacrifice the most important things on the altar of their frantic lives.

For example, "Joe" and "Linda" are regular church-goers with a growing family of four.  They realize that one of the best things they can do for their kids is to model for them a Christian faith that goes beyond Sunday mornings.  If they could pray together as a family or have a short after-dinner devotion, they could set a healthy model of faith for their kids for generations to come.

But there's just one little problem--They don't have time.

With homework and little league and swimming and piano and the school play and extended family gatherings, they don't have time to breathe, much less sit down in quality family time to talk about the biggest issues in life.  Unfortunately, they're sacrificing the most important thing for the sake of a few participation awards that will be lost in the hall closet within 6 months.

I am passionate about this issue because I keep hearing God talk in his Word about doing the Christian life with "one another".  Have you ever noticed how often that phrase comes up in the Bible?  God wants us to love one another, encourage one another, provide for one another, confess to one another, pray with one another, meet with one another, and about 50 more "one another's".

But that means we need time to be with "one another".  And that means that all of us, especially God's people, need to make some difficult decisions about priorities.

Mr. Lencioni offers some great ideas for prioritizing in his book.  I'll let you follow up on those on your own if you're interested.  But I will offer this thought from a faith perspective:

Always put first the things that will last.

By God's grace, our faith will last.  "The righteous... will go away to everlasting life," (Mt. 25:46).  The righteousness we find in Christ communicated through his Word will last for all eternity.  So let's make that a top priority.  Before the first pitch or the first commercial or the first recital, let's make sure God's Word is heard and discussed by our families.

By God's grace, other people will last.  "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved," (Mk. 16:16).  We celebrate the fact that Jesus died for every last person on earth.  That's why we tell of his love in the hope that others will join us at the party in heaven.

I love soccer.  I love my XBOX.  I love going out to breakfast at McDonald's.  I love learning guitar.  But the truth is that these things won't last.  We can do these activites and enjoy them, but we must not let them overtake our lives, turning us into frantic people who don't have time for the most important things.

Pray that God would give us clear priorities and the courage to put first things first.

God bless,

Pastor Mike