Knives, flaming batons, and basketballs…all flying through the air at one time. This is the image of a juggler balancing on his unicycle. I used to see this site regularly at The Streets at Southpoint mall in Durham, North Carolina, where I grew up. JuggleBoy was his name. He was amazing.
Juggling has always been a fascination of mine. How can one person do so many things at one time? Then I met John. John serves his Pennsylvania community as a paramedic. His technical role is as an Operations Supervisor, Paramedic, and Rescue Tech. If that’s not enough, he serves as the SWAT paramedic with the local police force and the Attorney General’s Office. Recently, he has been involved in an all-out offensive in trying to stop drug suppliers throughout the state. Not a 9-to-5 job.
When he’s not at work, he serves at his local church in the Assemblies of God tradition. He teaches Sunday School, leads a separate Bible study or two, serves as one of the leaders in the hospitality ministry, and is even being considered for ministry credentials. To say he’s involved at church is an understatement.
Then there’s his family life. He’s married and has kids. He’s involved in extreme exercise, running, and the like. His house just sold, so now he’s about to be involved in the moving process. Home life is a zoo too, so it seems.
Sounds like so many of us today. We live in a fast-paced society. Even as I’m writing this article, I’m watching the clock so I can get home for guitar practice with one son, a soccer game for another son, and dance class for our daughter…and Friday night will be our third son’s tee ball game.
How do people juggle all of life’s tasks? Being a good steward of the time God has given us is a good first step. But perhaps more important is quieting ourselves before the Lord regularly. A recent news report said that reflection time is a good way to quiet the body and relieve stress. Personally, quiet reflection and devotional time works better for me. And I think that was God’s intent when he said, “Be still, and know that I am God,” Psalms 46:10.
By the way, did I mention that John is also finishing his Associate Degree in Leadership & Ministry this May from Carolina College of Biblical Studies? How in the world does he have time to juggle school into his already crazy schedule? He is a student in our online degree program. In fact, that’s one of the purposes of the program…to allow people, busy people, to complete their degree with whatever chaos of a schedule they’re juggling.
One of the benefits of learning to juggle is you become more disciplined in the use of your time, so you develop discipline. Secondly, to juggle more you have to wrestle with priorities, and you learn to discard trivial and idle time eaters to be replaced with the addition of quality life changing goal and pursuits. So as a person, you have learned to be more disciplined. Secondly, you have learned to choose more wisely how you spend your life. Discipline and wisdom—not bad for two character traits that come as a by-product of an online education!
What about you? Juggling a lot…but want to complete your undergraduate degree? Consider CCBS Online. Check us out at www.ccbs.edu and see how our online program can help you. Who knows, your next step could change the world!
