My wife had a hyperactive thyroid. While it was hyper, she had massive amounts of energy, needed hardly any sleep, burned up everything she ate, and moved and talked at warp speed. It was like being married to Tony Campolo, only with more hair.

There are times I wish I had a hyperactive thyroid. I think one should be issued to everyone who goes into church ministry. Hyperactive ministers for hyperactive churches.

In fact, lack of hyperactivity has become one of the leading problems facing clergy today. Seventy percent of all people in ministry acknowledge they get stressed out just trying to keep up with books, articles, and seminars on how to deal with clergy stress! (I'm making these numbers up as I go along.) Over half have had an episode where they completely lost their emotional composure in the pulpit. (This does not include preachers in certain independent churches, for whom losing composure in the pulpit is a primary homiletical style.) Sixty percent say they have fantasies involving ...