What Would You Do? Where Are Your Priorities?
As a pastor I get pulled many different directions and Fathers day weekend I had a decision to make. One thing on my calendar was a wedding and rehearsal. When I was asked to do the wedding a month and a half earlier I checked my calendar and did not see anything that weekend so I told them I was clear. However, I was not.
My son Braiden and I are baseball junkies. We love going to Astros games, usually two or three a summer. Braiden especially loves Friday games because the Astros have Friday Night Fireworks at Minute Made Park. This baseball season is special because the Yankees and the Red Sox are both coming to Houston for the first time in interleague play. The demand for tickets to these games was so high that you had to put your name in a lottery to win the opportunity to buy tickets. I was one of the lucky ones picked and purchased our tickets back in February and put the dates on my calendar.
The problem is that I am a little dyslexic when it comes to dates, months and numbers. I put the Yankee game on my calendar on July 13. The problem, the game was on June 13, the same night as the aforementioned wedding rehearsal. I discovered my mistake while watching Baseball Tonight on ESPN when they mentioned that Yankee pitcher Jaba Chamberlain’s next start was Friday, June 13, IN HOUSTON. I checked the web and realized my mistake. Now the question was “what to do?” What would you do?
In my eyes there was only one thing for me to do. I contacted the couple and informed them that I would not be at the rehearsal. It was not about the game, it was about my boy. This couple will not remember that the pastor did not make their wedding rehearsal, my son would always remember that I canceled our trip to see the Yankees in Houston, something he had been looking forward to for months.
The result. The bride and groom were great and understood. (Oh, and the wedding went off the next morning without a hitch. Well almost, the bride was not happy with her hair so we started a few minutes late, but that had nothing to do with my absence at the rehearsal). Braiden and I had a blast. Braiden almost got a ball during batting practice and got to see Jeter hit a HR.
So, what would you do in a similar situation, when you have to choose between disappointing your family or disappointing your boss, friends, co-workers? For me it is a no brainier.
How could you disappoint this face?
Without a doubt you made the right choice Bard. You made a huge deposit in your son's love bank. The progression of priorities should follow: God, family, and arrange the rest at your own descretion.
Posted by: Jeff Jud | June 19, 2008 at 04:54 PM