Something Different

Our family has a Sunday night ritual in which we watch an episode or two of West Wing. I’m a huge fan of West Wing. There is great character development, good side humor, and intriguing story lines.

Last nights episode really messed with me. The former chief of staff, Leo, has recently returned to the White House after suffering a heart attack. He is coming back with some various ideas and throughout the episode his efforts in sharing his thoughts with the other staff are interrupted. Towards the end of the show he is having dinner with the president and he accuses accurately that the President has quit pulling punches and going for it. The president lists some excuses like he is in his last year and he has health issues but they are quickly dismissed by Leo. The scene jumps to 1opm in the evening and the staff is called in to report to the white house. The all come walking in wondering what it could be about when they find that they are having a meeting with Leo. He sits them down and says, “We can accomplish more in 1 day in the White House then we can in all of the days combined after we leave the white house.” He then talks to each staff person about their day and how they got side tracked. The episode ends with Leo writing 364 days on a whiteboard. He says, “We have this many days left – what do we want to accomplish in that amount of time.” This triggers a brainstorm session.

This got me thinking about all sorts of things. Such as what is hi-jacking my day? What do I really want my life to be about? What is thebridge really about? Are we putting our best efforts at the things God has most clearly called us to be about?

I’m pretty excited to have the week of teaching off and give these thoughts some more attention.