Organize

I need help!!! I will start back seminary on January 18th and I need to get organized. It has been a challenge since I started, but now it has came to a head. I had difficult in the last semester and could not find a balance. I am a student, associate minister, husband, father, and I work a full time job. I know that I am not the only one with this problem and I hope that it does not seem that I am complaining. I just want to be able to do it all with God first, family next and everything else to follow. I want to be the best that I can be and I think that Logos 4 can help. I just get overwhelm sometimes and don't know where to start. I know that this is going to be hard work and I am willing toput in the work. I just don't want God or my family to feel as if they are not my priority.

Simply I need to get organize so I can be balance to do it all.

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Dave Hooton

Why don't you give us your task list for Logos4 and we'll see what we can do to help.

BillS

I just want to be able to do it all with God first, family next and everything else to follow.

Hi Phelix,

Before I go on, I want to affirm your priorities, God 1st, wife & family next, everything else after that. Those were mine... I've been where you are. Full time job, husband, father, & part time ministry as I went part time through seminary. Logos helped me, tremendously. particularly with language classes. Right click / left click access to the BDAG/BDB lexical entries eliminated all the time I'd have spent just learning how to look up a word. Instead, I spent all my time understanding the meaning.

Do you already have Logos? If so, what version & package? If you've just acquired Logos 4 & you're wanting help in how to use it, perhaps the tutorials will help you. You can find an index to them at http://wiki.logos.com/Logos_4_Video_Tutorials .

Here's how I organized myself for seminary...

I learned to use my laptop for note-taking. If they gave us a syllabus, I keyed it in as my overall structure for notes. It usually dovetailed with their lectures. The laptop meant I could have Logos in every class, running in the background behind my open Word document where I was taking notes. My seminary wanted us to use a particular translation (NRSV), so I set up a workspace with NRSV, BDAG, & BDB already open.

The other thing I did (for which I'm thankful) was to get a good study Bible to use devotionally. I brought it to all my classes. As I got special insights into Scripture, I jotted notes in the margin, in addiiton to class notes, etc.

Finally, I for the language classes, I made flash cards for the vocabulary each week. I could've bought them, but the act of writing the language cards actually helped me in the learning process. I cut 3 x 5 cards up in half long ways, & then each half into thirds. I got a lot of flash cards out of a package! Why flash cards? I took them everywhere. If I had dead time in a meeting, I'd pull them out. If traffic was stop & go, I'd pull them out when it was stop. You get the idea.

Hope some of these random thoughts are helpful... Many blessings on your journey.

Christ said, "Be of good cheer. I have overcome the world." And He's ready to help you overcome these obstacles, too.

Blessings!

Phelix Lockhart

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/65650#Comment_65650

Here is what I have:

Logos4 Platinum w/ WBC, IVP Reference, Theological Journal 1-12, Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary, and all this is running on a Dell laptop with windows 7 with 2007 office ultimate.

I know that I am going to have to do a lot of research papers and I also want to use logos4 for studing, preaching and teaching the Word.

Rosie Perera

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/65718#Comment_65718

One suggestion I have is limit yourself to doing research in your top one or two resources in each category (dictionaries, commentaries, etc.) instead of trying to be exhaustive about it. I have Logos Gold, and I already feel that sense of overwhelm you have with all the information available at my fingertips. With Logos Platinum it must be even worse.

Second pointer is one that I received from a professor of mine in seminary which made a deep impact on me: let each study session (sermon prep session, Logos session, etc.) be an occasion for prayer, in fact let it be saturated through and through with prayer. Here's what he wrote in a handout that he gave with a chapel talk he gave on that topic:

Spirituality and Academics for Dummies

Bruce Hindmarsh - July 1998 - Regent College Chapel

"I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will never be shaken." (Psalm 16:8)

· Begin and end each study session with a small act of consecration, perhaps a phrase such as "In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen." These small rituals can act like bookends to your study, or like opening and closing the door to an enclosed garden where you will spend time with Christ.

· It is a difficult thing to attend to the presence of Christ while studying (far more so than if you are engaged in repetitive manual tasks). Remember therefore, that nothing could be more spiritual than studying, while that is the task to hand, and do it with heart and soul.

· Have a sentence prayer ready to hand to punctuate your studying, say at the close of a chapter you're reading, or a paragraph you have just written. Life your eyes from the page to God in the natural rhythm of breaking the concentration of your work and utter a short prayer: "Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy upon me a sinner," etc.

· From time to time, take a pertinent passage from your study and slow down enough to memorize it and "ruminate" upon it.

· Take passages which refer to God in the third person and upon occasion, turn them into second person, and you will discover you have turned your reading or writing into a prayer. (Compare Augustine's Confessions written in the second person.)

· Take some time in the midst of particularly intense study periods to pray without words or images as a way of recalling the God who is beyond all we can say or imagine of him. (Think windshield wipers!)

· Pay attention to the divine choreography between your studies and your relationships because God often comes at you from several angles at once. Refuse to compartmentalize.

The Apologist’s Evening Prayer

From all my lame defeats and oh! much more
From all the victories that I seemed to score;
From cleverness shot forth on Thy behalf
At which, while angels weep, the audience laugh;
From all my proofs of Thy divinity,
Thou, who wouldst give no sign, deliver me.

Thoughts are but coins. Let me not trust, instead
Of Thee, their thin-worn image of Thy head.
From all my thoughts, even from my thoughts of Thee,
O thou fair Silence, fall, and set me free.
Lord of the narrow gate and the needle’s eye,
Take from me all my trumpery lest I die.

C.S. Lewis

Robert Pavich

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/65650#Comment_65650

I've been where you are. Full time job, husband, father, & part time ministry as I went part time through seminary.

Bill....

You must have a big red S on your chest...I cannot imagine how much stamina that took...

Terry Poperszky

I just want to be able to do it all with God first, family next and everything else to follow

Phelix, I was where you were as well, but I got it wrong and regardless of what I said, my Church came first. God and I are still working that out with my adult daughter. Just remember, that you can't, but God can. BTW, I would have done a much worse job than I did, if it hadn't been for L2

Terry Poperszky

I just want to be able to do it all with God first, family next and everything else to follow

Pat Flanakin

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/65859#Comment_65859

Phelix, you might have to either drop seminary or the associate minister position at church. God clearly indicates what matters most; however, we all know that you cannot love your neighbor or the brethren if you are not doing it first with your spouse and progeny.

I am entering seminary at this time. I am 40 and doing it all online and correspondence. I have discussed all this with my wife and she is on board. We have a 1.5 year old child as well. I have scheduled specific study times that are on both my and her calendars so nothing can interfere with this study time. If I do not choose to use that study time and something comes up, it is on me and I just have to either lose sleep, or not study; so it is important for me to be disciplined.

I am also beginning my seminary studies with one course at a time, with the goal of completing 5 a year and finishing my degree in 10 years or less. This I have found appears manageable. Many think it is a long time, but God has His plan and if I have to stop during that 10 years, so be it; His ways are higher than my ways.

As far as serving in the church, I have chosen things to help with while I am already at church on Sundays. People at church know I have chosen to begin seminary classes, so during this training and educational period of my life, I will not be as available. Additionally, these folks expect me to put my family first and will help me keep that balance proper.

I have always found it interesting how seminary, which you would expect only those that are maturing in the Word would pursue it and have the highest regard for Godly priorities, often end up putting it above all else. By saying I find it interesting isn't that I am beyond that same mistake, but I am certainly seeking to build a fortress around my spiritual priorities so that I can minimize the likelihood falling into that trap.

I will close by saying Logos or not, the above still stands. Logos is a distant priority in terms of my responsibilities.

If you need any additional guidance or just to run some ideas around my way personally, please do so at: pflanakin@gmail.com

Pat Flanakin

BillS

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/65718#Comment_65718

Hi Phelix,

A few more thoughts, and blessings to you!

As others have noted, you may have more on your plate than one person can do. My wisest seminary professor said at the beginning of my journey (my words, his thought), "If God has called you to seminary, then what requires REAL discernment is what you AREN'T going to do so you can do seminary." If God has called us to it, He'll get us through it. If He doesn't give us what we need to get through each quarter/semester, then either He didn't do His job (impossible), or wedidn't hear Him clearly on those fewer-than-we attempted things He did call us to do. Your concern about balance prompted me to think these things earlier, but I waited for confirmation through others' posts to you that I should say them. Stay focused on the priorities He gave you. He'll never cause you to "violate" something else He's called you to do. (That was Abraham's faith in Genesis 22.)

Also, Rosie is onto something with her counsel on not requiring yourself to search out EVERYTHING on a given topic. For my research papers, I gradually began to realize that there's a God-driven process of research by availability. In other words, whatever you can find (during the timespace you had to look), that's what God intended you use for the research for a given paper, regardless of what you'd have LIKED to have included.

Logos won't be as much help as you think on the research papers, except for the journal library. Too often, you'll need material that's only available in a theological library. (Except for one A- & a B+, I was a straight-A student.) So don't expect Logos to help you avoid going. Just go back the the thought of "research by availability."

Finally, get yourself into an accountability group that meets monthly. Include your wife in the group. (Mine included my senior pastor, my wife, & 2 friends that knew me & her well enough to know if I was trying to blow smoke about our relationship.) Report to them monthly on how you're doing with your priorities--your relationships with God, wife, family, and your effectiveness in work, seminary, & ministry. If you're in accountability with others, they'll help you avoid most problems. (And who has the time to make all the mistakes, ourselves!?)

Many blessings on your journey!

Thomas Wenck

Phelix,

You've received some meaningful advise in the spiritual and philosophical realm from people who seem to understand your experience. No need for me to tread on the same ground. You did, however, ask for specific advise ["could not find a balance", ".want to be able to do it all", "don't know where to start", "I need to get organize"] I urge you to check out Getting Things Done (GTD) by David Allen. I've implemented this program to manage my spiritual discipines, church service, biblical studies, job with a very long commute, and fatherhood as a widowed dad. It's completely changed the way I view and deal with commitments and goals. I firmly believe you can not make proper decisions about the use of your limited time, focus, and energy unless you lay out all the options in front of you in an organized way. And, of course prayer for the Holy Spirit's lead in making those choices as God would have you. I can honestly say it's changed the way I do life and significantly impacted what I am able to accomplish.

Tom

Michael Birney

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/66285#Comment_66285

Phelix,

I did close to what you are doing, full time ministry position (I think I got paid, but it wan't much), full time in seminary, wife and 2 young kids at the time. I did a few things right: 1 I didn't care about my grades other than making sure I passed. I did my best with the time I had for seminary, and I tried to learn as much as possible (that is why you are there, not for A's), but my gpa was not great. Just on note on that, who cares now, 20 some years later what my gpa was?

2 I went to seminary, but my wife and I talked constantly about what I was learning. She helped me learn, and it was something we shared, and it kept us communicating. She basically got the same education that I did.

3 I used the franklin planner then, and I used it "religiously". It was given to me by a friend my first semester, watching me struggle with time management. I listened to the tapes that came with the original and it really, really helped me make it through that time.

The list of what I didn't do right .... debt, didn't find the right mentor, was too impressed by style, lots more, but that is a different thread.

BillS

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/65749#Comment_65749

I cannot imagine how much stamina that took...

Hi Bob,

In the end, every quarter it was God who had to get me thru. I figured if He called me to do it, He'd either give me what I needed to get thru, or I was off the hook. [:D]

He has never failed.

In actualtiy, now that I'm employed as a pastor, I think I affirm the enforced life-values-prioritization. In a way, being forced to go through that process is part of the equipping for ministry. Ministry itself will try to be 1st, if I let it, even before my commitment to God. It'll try to come before our spouses & family. (My dad was a pastor. Believe me, this can happen.) So learning UP FRONT to establish values that put & keep God & family in front is a part of the training & equipping.

Many blessings to you!

Bill

Blair Laird

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/65718#Comment_65718

I know that I am going to have to do a lot of research papers and I also want to use logos4 for studing, preaching and teaching the Word.

I just finished my semester, get encyclopedias !!! For my research paper my encyclopedias came in soooo handy. I had to use a lot of free ones online. Logos currently does not carrier very many. However there is good news, it seems as though they are working on it. There are a few available in pre pub.... great prices....

My systematic theologies also came in very handy... bulk up on them...

God bless...

Rosie Perera

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/66285#Comment_66285

I urge you to check out Getting Things Done (GTD) by David Allen.

+1 [Y] Great book! It makes a huge difference in how organized I am, when I'm following his advice.

I'll also echo others' suggestions that maybe you've bitten off more than anyone can reasonably humanly handle at one time, big red S on your chest or not (unless that S stands for Savior, but that isn't any of us). I'm single and I've done the seminary + part time ministry thing and even that was tough. I cannot fathom throwing in a full time job plus having a family and keeping my first priority to God and second to family. I actually took 8 years to complete my degree in seminary because I found as I worked through the course work, I was changing in more ways than intellectually, and I needed time to process that stuff. Don't cheat yourself out of a season in your life that could be an amazing time of spiritual growth. A friend once gave me this analogy: If you try to squeeze too much in and balance it all, you end up like the baker in Sesame Street, teetering on the stairs trying to balance several chocolate cream pies in his arms, and then collapsing in a heap of pastry at the bottom of the stairs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NXeO9_Ec7w). She prefers instead of balance, as in trying to balance everything at once, the word seasons. There are seasons in life for raising a family with young kids, seasons for education, seasons for maximum work output, seasons for writing your life memoirs, etc. Sometimes you have to put off something you really feel called to do until a later season. It doesn't mean God isn't calling you to that, but it might mean he isn't calling you to it right now.

BillS

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/66378#Comment_66378

I actually took 8 years to complete my degree in seminary because I found as I worked through the course work, I was changing in more ways than intellectually, and I needed time to process that stuff.

Amen! It took me from 1994-2002. Trickle feed enabled me to process it. If I'd gone the big gulp route (try to swallow it in 3 years full time), more would have spilled off me than would've been ingested.

There are seasons in life for raising a family with young kids, seasons for education, seasons for maximum work output, seasons for writing your life memoirs, etc. Sometimes you have to put off something you really feel called to do until a later season. It doesn't mean God isn't calling you to that, but it might mean he isn't calling you to it right now.

Amen, again! Eloquently put.

Phelix Lockhart

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/66385#Comment_66385

I really apperciate all of the advice and I will try to read the book "Getting things Done" and the Franklin Planner. I have thought about just doing what I can in the time allowed for school and let my gpa be what it is going to be. I also, thought about taking less hours per semester. I am trying to come to grips about what is best for me right now. I will go into prayer and can you all pray with me for God to lead me in the direction that I need to go. With the input from my wife and you all and God guiding me that everything will workout.

Thanks.

p.s. more suggestion are always welcome.

Jon

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/66567#Comment_66567

Best piece of advice: don't get stuck reading these forums [:)]

It's great to have a (for the most part) helpful and constructive user community but too many people spend too much time online here...

Rosie Perera

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/66385#Comment_66385

I actually took 8 years to complete my degree in seminary because I found as I worked through the course work, I was changing in more ways than intellectually, and I needed time to process that stuff.

Amen! It took me from 1994-2002.

Pretty close to my dates: 1996-2004. And I'm still auditing a course here or there since I still live nearby the seminary, and am still having life transforming experiences from some of them.

BillS

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/67159#Comment_67159

Hi Rosie,

So how has God led you into giving back the transformation He's given you?

Tom Gray

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/66567#Comment_66567

Phelix,

I'd like to someday get to Seminary, but I'm not 40 yet. (lol, just kidding =-)) But on the subject of balancing a life and trying to do it all...don't.

I would recommend a Franklin Planner to help keep your life on task...I finally (after 7 years) went to a week on 2 pages because I found if I tried to put too much stuff in my life, other areas of my life were negatively affected. Don't try to do it all, only God can do that. Part of what the Franklin-Covey planner systems helps you discover for yourself is what your true priorities are and then you decide on how to act on them.

Always schedule those events you HAVE to attend - and plan for more time than you think necessary. (Things always happen to take up more time than you originally expected) Next plan those things in your life that just take a lot of time (Important not urgent - unless you blew it and made it both important and urgent) and give a little cushion where possible between other events to give yourself time to pray and breathe. Keep lists of things that you SHOULD get done and WANT to do. Sprinkle in some of these events whenever possible to give yourself a break.

I echo the sentiments of others here on using the resources in Platinum. I could only afford the Leadership version, but have used e-Sword in the past and quickly got off track and overwhelmed by downloading and 'reading' all that stuff. Look at a few of the resources, decide which ones are of the greatest benefit and save them as favorites and use them throughout the year. When time avails itself look at some of the other resources and see if they should be added or ignored. Ask some of the more experienced people here to suggest some of the better resources here and WHY they use them. For example I was raised on the NKJV and have heard the NASB is an excellent bible...so why do people in Logos seem to be so enamoured with the ESV?

Keep your life open to God's little re-directions, pauses and stops. May God richly bless you in your efforts to know and love Him more.

Tom

Rosie Perera

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/67261#Comment_67261

Hi Rosie,

So how has God led you into giving back the transformation He's given you?

Short answer: Countless ways, but what I love most is the one-on-one mentoring relationships with people. I love to see God at work in transforming other people and what a privilege it is to come alongside and act as a kind of doula for that transformation. Nothing formal, just spiritual friendship.

The long answer (describing more of what I "do" in my life of giving back) is more than I care to share on this forum. I'd love to tell you more if you want to hear it, but offline, if you give me your email address or drop me a note at mine (which you can find on my website on the contact page; that website represents only a tiny fraction of what I "do").

BillS

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/67323#Comment_67323

drop me a note at mine

Done.

Jack Caviness

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/67323#Comment_67323

what I love most is the one-on-one mentoring relationships with people. I love to see God at work in transforming other people and what a privilege it is to come alongside and act as a kind of doula for that transformation. Nothing formal, just spiritual friendship.

Rosie, that is beautiful! [Y] That should be the goal of every Christian.

I did have to look up one word in the dictionary.

Roger Feenstra

Simply I need to get organize so I can be balance to do it all.

Here are a few thoughts (These things may or may not apply, but here goes)

1. Remember that you are just a man, and that you may not be able to "do it all."

2. When driving in your car--turn off the radio and use the time as your quiet time. There is so much noise throughout the day (especially if you have kids), you need that driving time, no matter how short, to decompress, pray, think, etc.

3. Don't surf the Internet. When you use the Internet, go to it with a specific subject or task to investigate--don't go down rabbit trails (they are huge time wasters).

4. Stop reading and watching the news. I guarantee that you will know everything that is going on in the world because people you work with, go to school with, and interact with will tell you.

5. Stop watching television. Most of it is a waste of time and it doesn't help you "Set your mind on the things above."

6. Logos 4 will not help you if you don't first make adjustments in your own thought life and schedule. Logos 4 will certainly aid you, but it could actually allow you to be more disorganized--the danger is you will find yourself "surfing" L4 and not digging in to the subject at hand that you are studying.

There are so many other things that can be helpful, like: Cleaning out your car, organizing your paperwork (like bills, checkbook etc.), spending time in prayer...when things like these are out of whack it can cause you to feel overwhelmed and unorganized.

Anyway, those are some random thoughts off the top of my head. I struggled with the same thing for many years when I was younger, but have been able to get a handle on my organization by implementing some of the things above...AND when my kids grew up, it got a lot easier [Y] Hang in there!

Roger

Roger Feenstra

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/65721#Comment_65721

Spirituality and Academics for Dummies

This is good!

Rosie Perera

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/67632#Comment_67632

Here are a few thoughts ...

There are so many other things that can be helpful, like: Cleaning out your car, organizing your paperwork (like bills, checkbook etc.), spending time in prayer...when things like these are out of whack it can cause you to feel overwhelmed and unorganized.

Those are all great ideas, but this one in particular I'd like to echo emphatically. A friend who was working on her PhD first told me about this. When your physical space is disorderly it really can affect your mental organization and efficiency. My friend used to have stop what she was doing to clear off her desk before she could proceed with working on her dissertation. I learned that from her and it really helps! Even though it may take a bit of extra time up front, it will pay you back in spades: Clear your clutter!

Roger Feenstra

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/68002#Comment_68002

Clear your clutter!

Now that's putting it succinctly. I like it.

Roger

Rosie Perera

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/68008#Comment_68008

Clear your clutter!

Now that's putting it succinctly. I like it.

I read a book once called Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui. I wouldn't recommend the philosophy behind it (a bunch of poppycock in my opinion) but the advice on how to clear it and the warnings about some of the negative effects of not clearing it was worth skipping over the nonsense. All that stuff really does weigh on you emotionally and affect your ability to think clearly and get on with your life -- especially if you know it contains decisions that need to be made, unfinished business with others that affect your relationships with them, bad memories, guilt, etc. It really is freeing to get rid of stuff! If only the book could have been written from a Christian perspective (I have yet to see a clear-your-clutter type book for Christians). But I don't necessarily dismiss out of hand all books just because they start from an Eastern or other perspective. The Eastern philosophers do have some wisdom for us to listen to occasionally ;-). This one caught my eye for some reason. Lots of sample pages of it available on Amazon.com so you can get the gist of it without buying it.