Let's See How Far We've Come...

Every Tuesday at The Oconee Enterprise when I finish work, I fill out a time sheet. In my normal routine of the past 20 or so months, I drop my time sheet in the shelf on the General Manager's door. However, being concerned with shutting off the lights and making sure the door was locked, I simply carried the time sheet with me out the door. As I sat in my car I realized that my time sheet was still in my hand. Not having a key, there was nothing I could do.

Out of the 20 some months I've been an employee at The Enterprise this is only the second time that I have misplaced my time sheet. The Manager blames it on me recently getting married stating with a chuckle, "You've got one more thing to think about, so I guess your time sheet got knocked off the list."

Seems logical.

I say all this to say that I made an extra trip to Watkinsville this morning to return my time sheet to its rightful place in the universe...and so I'll have a paycheck awaiting my arrival next Tuesday. Since I was going to be in the area, I decided to spend some time in one of my favorite places, Panera Bread.

There is a point this, so stay with me.

Starting in September of 2007, I moved to Georgia, returning to the land of my fathers. The reason was simply to help plant a church, River Hills. In the beginning of a church plant, there may not be enough resources to supply certain things such as office space. And seeing how one of the coolest, and only coffee house in Winder with free wi-fi closed, my only resort was to drive to either Athens or Lawrenceville and work out of Panera. Consistently sweet tea and delicious tomato soup had everything to do with this decision. Although, most times I would just order a glass of sweet tea, and with a self-serve drink fountain I'm sure I've drank my weight in tea as I sat there and worked for some 6 hours at a time. I would say most all of the first sermon series graphics took form in this layed-back atmospheric establishment.

Now since the Spring of 2009, River Hills is able to support it's own office space. Which really is a great thing. It gives us a presence in the community and helps us(the staff) be a little more organized. It is a place to make our own by covering the walls with white dry-erase boards.

It's little things like having an office that help you see the progress that River Hills Church is having. It's not much, but I've heard from some respectable church leaders that slow, steady progress is the best way to grow.

The irony in this blog is that every now and then, when the day feels just right, even though we finally have an office, I have the urge to spend a day working in Panera. In a sense, it's a monument, for me, in the life of River Hills that reminds me of the small victories we've had and seen as a church.