Crazy Busy by Kevin DeYoung -- Book Review

I was too busy to read Crazy Busy by Kevin DeYoung. The full title of the book is Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book about a (Really) Big Problem. It was produced by Christian Audio.

I didn't actually read the book, I listened to the book thanks to Christian Audio. This book was read by Adam Verner. He does a great job of capturing the feel of the book he is reading. I always feel like I am actually listening to the author of the book when he is reading.

This book deals with the problem of business. ...and it is a problem. We are too busy, or at least it feels that way. This book seeks to first address the reasons why we are busy or feel busy. As he attempts to diagnose the problem of busyness, Kevin DeYoung freely acknowledges the reality that he does not stand above the problem, but is right in the middle of the problem. In so many ways, he hits the nail on the head as he describes the different realities of "why" we are busy.

Near the end of the book he quite appropriately addresses the fact that in some way are supposed to be busy. As much as we might diagnose and treat our unnecessary busyness, there is still a sufficient amount of busyness that we should be all about. The goal is not to eliminate the busyness, but to prioritize the activities in the middle of the busyness, i.e. are we spending time on what really counts?

My only difficulty in reading this book was the lack of addressing my own personal situation. I am a full-time high school teacher at a local public school. I teach geometry, calculus, and trigonometry. I am also the senior pastor at a small local church. I don't need to add more, but I am also a husband and the father of two children. I am (without surprise) busy. I would even say that I am "crazy busy" much of the time. But I don't believe that I have taken on more that God has led me to accept in my life. And I don't believe that there is anything that I can lay down right now. So, taking a day off, doesn't happen all that often. Much of what Kevin DeYoung says is still very helpful, but it comes up short in the specifics of my own situation. Bivocational Pastor will always be Crazy Busy... Is there a better way to handle my busyness? Most likely, but I am not sure exactly what I can do differently, at least for now.

If you are busy in life, I suggest this book. Especially the audio version, you can listen to it on your commute to work or while you are at the YMCA on the treadmill.

The Seed and The Soil of Education (New Learning Project Part 1)

(This is my entry for the first part of my project for my New Learning course that I am taking.) Introduction Corn Fields in Illinois I have lived the majority of my life in the Midwest: mid-state Illinois to be specific. Where I live, farming is everywhere. My grandparents and great-grandparents on both sides of my family were farmers. My dad grew up on a farm and owned farmland, well into my own adulthood. But, even if it wasn’t in the family, I still would have been surrounded by farming. You can’t go more than a mile outside of my city’s limits without encountering miles and miles of fields. Most of our highways, and even interstates, are located between acres of farmland.

This too shall pass...

Gam zeh ya'avor (Hebrew) "This Too Shall Pass" Welcome! According to Google Analytics, this is by far the most visited post that I have ever written. If someone comes here from a search engine, most of the time they are looking for " this too shall pass quote " or simply " this too shall pass " on Google or one of the other search engines. I am sure that most of the time visitors are looking for the originations of this quote, but I have to wonder, why is this quote on people's minds? Why are they pondering the passing of events? Here is my thought: It is probably because most of us have realized that the adult life is much harder than we ever imagined it to be. There is more pain and more sorrow than we had ever imagined as children, but we have learned that time keeps ticking. And as time continues to flow things pass. In fact, even the really big things and the really hard things will still pass. If you are here because you are thinking ...

The Minnesota Crime Commission wrote:

Every baby starts life as a little savage. He is completely selfish and self-centered. He wants what he wants when he wants it: his bottle, his mother's attention, his playmate's toys, his uncle's watch, or whatever. Deny him these and he seethes with rage and aggressiveness which would be murderous were he not so helpless. He's dirty, he has no morals, no knowledge, no developed skills. This means that all children, not just certain children but all children, are born delinquent. If permitted to continue in their self-centered world of infancy, given free reign to their impulsive actions to satisfy each want, every child would grow up a criminal, a thief, a killer, a rapist.

HARMLESS THOUGHTS

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