Adapted from Common Sense for Men and Women in Ministry by Donna Schaper (Alban Institute, 1990).

As a pastor and a parent, I work two shifts, one at church and the second at home. At the church, I minister and administer, marry and bury, preach and pray, and in a thousand other ways, "do church." At home I get cards to in-laws, groceries to refrigerators, children to birthday parties, and garments to and from the dry cleaner.

Like most pastors (and parents), I have been charged with the job of caring. It's a never-ending task.

This job description joins my authority as pastor in requiring me to shoot the next person who tells me to "take care of myself." I know I can't continue forever to do dishes and talk on the phone simultaneously. The day will come when I won't have the energy to do my correspondence in the evening while watching television. I don't plan to go on like this forever, not wasting a moment. But until my three children are raised and/or the millennium arrives, I don't plan ...