Mike Rusch

…wow, pretty crazy past couple of weeks, but seems like this may be the new normal of which I’m not sure I’m ready for.  It’s almost like we’ve strapped ourselves to a moving train and we’re just holding on…

I commented a few days ago that having 4 kids is approximately 857% more than having 3 kids and I really was surprised at the number of responses by people who are just as tired in life as I was that day. Don’t get me wrong, absolutely love the kiddos, but we have been in constant motion for a while now.

…I do think that these past two months of crazy busy Christmas, preparation for Ethiopia, the return and a new normal that has followed has shown me a couple things.

First, it’s time to make some hard choices about priorities and where I spend my related time. Maybe I’m thinking about this because it’s 5:00 a.m. and it’s the only time it’s quiet in my house. Maybe it’s because I turned 37 yesterday and I’m really close to tipping closer to 60 than to 20. Maybe it’s because I started reading Andy Stanley’s book “Choosing to Cheat” & within the first few pages I find the statement “my kids have never said, ‘okay dad, that’s enough playing for the day, maybe you should go do some more work.’” This point was reinforced the other day when I was talking with a friend about scheduling some travel, and he said that he had made a commitment to his kids that he would only be away from home for a certain number of days at a time (very nice). Or, maybe all of this comes into focus because I’ve known for a long time that the pace of life has been quickening and I just want to slooooowwww down a little.

Either way, whether I want to make a few changes or because I need to make a few changes…I’m going to.

First, went out for my first early morning run yesterday for the first time in maybe four months. Within just a few moments of realizing it was 20 degrees outside (I should have picked a better day) that I awoke and began to rediscovered that it really isn’t the running as much as it is the fact I can let my mind escape through the headphones of my iPod to be recharged. I have a lot of podcasts to catch up & I’m really looking forward to taking it all in.

Second, I must be present more with my family. It hasn’t been uncommon to have a coffee & lunch meeting scheduled every day of the week, and while that’s productive for a number of things, it’s not productive at home. So, mornings are going to be returned to my family as much a humanly possible. Not to mention it’s February and I still haven’t gone to my kids school to have lunch with them (super dad fail on this one).

Third, the phone will spend a lot more time in my car at night, during dinners or lunches, etc. This means it may take a week to email people back; I’m sorry in advance. After returning from Ethiopia and having couple hundred emails to look at, I just started calling people. Wow, I never knew how much more productive a phone call is vs email (I think I’m on to something). If I’m really bad at getting back in touch, feel free to call Corrie as she can always find me. :-)

And last (for now), I’m going to fight the internal pressure to feel like I have to be at everything I truly want to be at. Sometimes I may win, sometimes I may fail, but I’m going to pick a fight with my constant need to feel like I have to be at everything incredible that is going on. And, with the friends I have, they are constantly doing some pretty amazing things. However, when I’m there, I want to be there with the free space in my mind that allows me to truly be there.

Okay…enough of this mindless rambling. Just some 5 am thoughts that I’m sure I’ll delete later.

Right now, my family is incredible in spite the fact that while in Ethiopia I acquired the amazing ability to fall asleep within 2 minutes regardless of the surroundings. Sosi is a true gift that has moved my heart so far; I just can’t miss these moments with her. More on all of this later, but there’s my mind dump. Hopefully this leads to some accountability & grace from the three people who may actually have read this far (and that includes my mom).

Grace and peace…and come run one morning with me (I may need some help getting back into a rhythm).

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