Thoughts that aren't developed enough for a lengthy post yet

I'm stealing the idea for this post from another blog I read.

1. Why don't churches take better care of their ministers? I know there are exceptions, but it seems like for the most part Christians expect very much from their ministers without giving much in return. A lot of gifted ministers or ministers-to-be are turned off to or get out of ministry because they don't want to have ________ (insert the # of people in a congregation) bosses always take take taking from them and their families without any regard for the fact that ministers are real people with spiritual failings and needs for encouragement, prayer, love, and support just like anyone else in the congregation. Just because I give 10% of my income at church, doesn't make me the boss of the people who have committed to doing a job that often times undervalues them for the service they provide. I've got a lot of un-cohesive thoughts on this that might warrant a more fully developed post in the future... in the mean time, TAKE CARE OF YOUR MINISTERS, THEY AND THEIR FAMILIES ARE NOT AND CAN NOT BE PERFECT, SO DO NOT EXPECT THEM TO BE. In closing, just because you give a financial contribution to a church doesn't give you the right to treat the minister, his wife, or his kids at your congregation like your own personal spiritual servant.

2. Why is it that I can't ever seem to get all of the cylinders in my life firing at the same time? By firing cylinders, I'm basically talking about the different physical, mental, spiritual, professional, academic, emotional, and relational realms of my life. It seems like at any given time, I never seem to be able to excel at more than a few of these realms at a time. I'm not talking about the times when things are in the dumps and all I want to do is sit on my couch in the dark and eat candy corn while watching old reruns of Colombo. No I'm talking about the times when things are for the most part going well, but for some reason I can't seem to have success in more than two or three areas of my life at any given time. For example, the last few months have been pretty good for me professionally, relationally, spiritually, and physically. However, during that time, I've noticed that I've begun feeling a lot less comfortable about my financial well-being. Prior to a few months ago, I was feeling pretty good about financial things, but I was not in very good physical or spiritual shape. Please don't confuse this phenomenon with times of great self doubt or great self confidence. It's the in between stages of life lived in the milieu of that which is neither terrific nor terrible that throws me for a loop. It's easy to express feelings of great happiness and great sorrow of feelings of great achievement, and great failure. I'd like to write a book about the life in the middle, but the words to express it evade me. What is the appropriate response to life in between the extremes when things are going good but not great; when people have problems, but aren't devastated, and when blog thoughts are neither long nor completely underdeveloped?

3. Why do I always end up staying up late when I plan to go to bed early?

4. Why are blogs so popular? For centuries people have been keeping secret diaries that they haven't let anyone read until after they're dead and it's out of their control. Now, people put their innermost thoughts on the internet where anyone with a computer and modem can read them. What is the lure of writing something personal about yourself on the web so that others can read it? I participate in this madness and if you're reading this, so do you, but why?

5. What would Jesus like for me to know about him or life or me or someone else right now as I sit in my living room at 10:45 p.m. on a Wednesday night typing the last few sentences of a really random blog post?

6. Why do I all of the sudden like Indian (dot not feather) food so much. Oh what I wouldn't give for some creamed spinach on flatbread followed by curry chicken and fried spinach leaves with tamarind chutney.

I hope I haven't confused anyone, but as I said before, I don't have very cohesive thoughts on any of these yet.