I just returned from a week long cruise to the Mediterranean.  We made the 11-hour homeward journey Wednesday, and my body clock has still not adjusted.  We visited a number of places on our trek through the Med: Rome, Pisa, Lucca, Naples, Livorno, Taormina, Sorrento, and Pompeii (Italy), Valletta (Malta) and Dubrovnik (Croatia).  We had a great time, and we had the opportunity to see some amazing sites.

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.  Click any picture to be taken to the Picasa Album.

I’ll be away for a little over a week.  I’m headed to Europe with Holland America, this time as a guest.  I’ll be cruising aboard the ms Noordam. It’s a charter cruise with a non-standard itinerary, so I really don’t even know where we’re going, and I can’t find it on HALs Web site. The only thing I know for sure is that I am flying in to Civitavecchia (Rome).

Anyhow, I’ll be having fun and I won’t be checking my e-mail. Don’t feel like I’m hating on you, I’m just not around. I will however leave some Web goodness to auto-post in my absense.

Well, I’m not exactly a parent, but I do sponsor three kids with Compassion (you should too, by the way).  I realized that I’m a bad “parent” today.  See, I was walking down the street and the iPhone told me that it was my day to write them a letter.  I’ve been pretty poor about doing this lately.  The past few times, I’ve gone to Compassion.com and “e-mailed” them, but you know, it’s just not the same to the kids as receiving an honest-to-goodness letter.

I was trying to figure out what changed.  Why have I gone downhill in this area that I used to excel in.  Do I have too much on my plate?  Am I over-committed? The truth is, I’ve been too absorbed in my life to care about theirs.  That’s a pretty bitter realization, a hard pill to swallow.

As I began pondering this more and more, I kept thinking about that old adage, that “anything worth doing is worth doing well.”  I don’t want to half-heartedly do anything.  So, do I have too much on my plate?  Do you have too much on yours?

Well, as it turns out, I have allowed my work to overpower everything else.  God has called me to release children from poverty, but I have allowed my job to steal that.  Notice that the blame is placed firmly on me.  I’m not working more because it’s expected of me - it’s just because I do.  I have set firm boundaries in the amount of time I spend at the office, never more than 40 hours a week unless a major emergency comes up.  However, with computers, the office comes easily to my living room.  So, I’m actually working 60-80 hour weeks.

Here’s my recommendation to myself, and to you.  Leave work at work and don’t spend too much time there.  Meet and exceed the requirements of the job, but realize that you’re no good to anyone if you burn out.  If you’re single, like myself, consider this time preparation time for having a family.  The habits you form now will most likely stick with you.

June is apparently a time for introspection because I have been thinking non-stop about my life, the direction I’m headed vs. the direction I thought I’d be headed, and my future.

[Pause: Craig, don't read too much into this post.  There's nothing to be afraid of... I'm not jumping ship... just need to work some things out.]

In about a month, I turn 26.  Realizing this made me start thinking about a lot of other stuff.  That means that I started working ten years ago.  That also brings to mind all of those people who asked me, “Where do you see yourself ten years from now?”  I’ll tell you this, I never would have believed that in ten years I would be working as a church IT professional.

In high school, I always told people that I did not want to work with computers because they frustrated me too much.  Wise adults in my life would say things like, “God gave you a gift with computers, and I’d be surprised if He didn’t want you to work with them.”  Boy, that got under my skin.  By the way, I always saw myself as a radio DJ.  In college, I said the same thing - I don’t want to work with computers.  I have a bachelor of arts in communication for crying out loud!  I wanted nothing to do with these silly machines, and yet, here I am.

Looking back over my working history, I have done a lot of things.  I have been a youth ministry assistant, sign shop worker, newspaper reporter, camp counselor, radio DJ, youth minister, youth pastor, bus driver, semester missionary, waiter, assistant cruise director, and IT Manager.  I’ve done more than most people have in their first ten working years, partly because I wanted a lot of experience and partly because I am so ADD!

By this point in life I had always envisioned that I would be married and working in ministry.  While most would argue that church IT work is ministry, it doesn’t feel like ministry… it doesn’t feel like I am supporting the advancement of the Kingdom.  It feels like I’m answering the same question for the thousandth time.  That’s my challenge in this juncture of life - not knowing if I’m making a difference in the Kingdom.

Today, before my glorious Sunday nap, I watched this chick-flick on TBS, “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.”  In it, a young girl (Bailey) has leukemia and is dying.  Tibby asks her, “Are you scared,” and the 12-year-old (albeit Hollywood) reply was profound.  Bailey answers, “Not of dying, really It’s more that I’m afraid of time. And not having enough of it. Time to figure out who I’m supposed to be… to find my place in the world before I have to leave it. I’m afraid of what I’ll miss.”

While I don’t have a terminal illness, let’s face it, time is limited for all of us.  My fear is similar, that I won’t be all I can be in the Kingdom of God, that I’m somehow missing the calling He has on my life.  How have you wrestled with these things in your life and ministry?

Last night I met with a group of our Houston-area Compassion advocates.  Even though I’m not a Houston-area resident, I’m working with the Houston team.  We met last night to share about ways that God is working in our ministries with Compassion.  Each of us work to spread the message of Compassion and God’s heart for poverty within our spheres of influence.  This was a GREAT opportunity to connect with some very passionate people.