Stress

a Jesus thought...
I desire mercy not sacrifice. For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. (Matthew 9:13)

a Godly thought...
Christendom is always associated with buildings, Sundays, and clergy! Always and everywhere. Yet the New Testament church had none of these. (p193 Frost & Hirsch)

a leading thought...
One of the great weapons in the revolutionary leader's arsenal is to cultivate a sense of holy dissatisfaction - to provoke a basic discontent with what is and so awaken a desire to move toward what could be. (p192 Frost & Hirsch)

a Dave thought...
Stress affects us all. No officer can expect to be exempted. Levels of stress will come and go.
These words are from The General - Shaw Clifton in the Sep/Oct Officer magazine. It then goes on to state that of the 274 officers that resigned in 2006 (which is 1.69% of all officers around the world) the major cause was dissatisfaction.
As I am in my fifth year of lieutenancy and I must admit to enjoying officership (even though uncommissioned) far more than many thought I would! But one area that I believe we need to improve on is giving authority along with responsibility. As we are all given appointments and many with huge responsibilities and budgets we also need to be given the permission to make decisions to go along with it so positive change can occur.
In an organisation that has so many positives if we were able to give not only responsibility but alongside it authority do what God is asking us to, then I believe the stress levels would decrease. Maybe its time to look at the causes of stress that come out of the structure of our organisation as well the effects.

Just a thought.