What I Realized Yesterday

I was at a Virginia Bar Association MANDATORY Professionalism course yesterday, and I heard fellow new attorneys talking about their jobs, and I overheard one guy talking about all these cool things that I wanted to do in the business and corporate arena and then he ended the sentence with a "but."

What followed the "but"? "But this past week I've gotten home somewhere after 1:30." And no folks, he wasn't talking about 1:30PM, as in the afternoon, but in the morning. He worked, as many other of the newer attorneys in our group, for the BIG law firm--you know, the ones that hire young associates by the truckloads from Harvard, Yale, the University of Virginia, etc. He has a wife and kid, and he's commuting 45 minutes each way.

Now, I would love to do some of the stuff that he's doing--but what's the cost? Associates in firms like that have the responsibility to bill close to 2000 hours a year (which is daunting), so days like that can be quite typical. Oh, the new firm trend is to speak of "balancing" life with family and community service so as to make a "whole" person as an attorney. But it seems to me that the secret in how to do that is left up to the individual attorney, and if you lose sleep in the process, that's fine, so long as it doesn't hurt the partner's bottom line. Life is in fact full of crossroads, junctures where we make a decision to choose one thing over another--work over family, material things over things that last, and idols over Christ.

One of the speakers on a video we watched reiterated what I so often hear from attorneys (as well as businessmen in general) but I do not often see practiced--"no one ever says I wish I spent more time in my office when they're on their deathbed." This coming from a U.S. District Court judge that had to work his tail off to get to his position--but at what cost? Position and stature does you nothing if you cannot be the husband and father that God has called you to be--it simply is worldly attention that evaporates before the throne of God.

Young lawyers such as myself would do good to really hear the quotation above, rather than simply fight tooth and nail to get in such positions as the judge and simply mimic him in thirty years, essentially saying, "do as I say, not as I do." These type of life choices start today, and each person has to decide their priorities and not let their work decide it for him--otherwise, it will all be vanity and striving in the wind, as the Preacher explains in Ecclesiastes.

One month more!

As in, one month more in this apartment--we are looking forward to closing and moving into our new home in less than a month now. We got word the other day that someone new is moving into our apartment only days after we move out, which means we won't have to keep paying on our lease! What a blessing! The odd thing is that we found out from the cable company! Go figure.

Work is busy as always--the car has had close to 4000 miles put on it in less than a month, and it's showing a little worse for the wear--I'm having my brake pads and rotors replaced Saturday, as some noises are starting to concern me more than a little (not to mention since this is our ONLY transportation, it behooves us to address it).

I figured out the other day that I will have been before 30 different courts by Mid-November, and that's kind of shocking--I never thought that I would be doing this much court work, but life is full of surprises (at least to us, not God). The unfortunate drawback of all this business and the craziness is that my devotions have more than suffered--they are nonexistent. I read my bible every night and really think on the passage, but I do not devote my time to the Word like I ought to. It truly should inform my life and guide it, not simply be a part of my life that I "fit in."

I was recently convicted on how the Word should inform our prayers, and even have a post about it that I might get up sometime this side of glory, but I think I have a few posts like that. Oh well.

Road Warrior

Well, the new job has me driving (literally) everywhere across Virginia. I looked at my car log, and I've driven approximately 1200 miles in about a week and a half (yes, you read that right). I get to drive another 400 or so miles tomorrow--believe it or not, I live in WESTERN Virginia and yet I can drive another 3 1/2 hours and still be in Virginia! Yikes.

In other news, the closing on the house we sold did go through just fine, and the inspection on our new house went beautifully--I couldn't believe that the ONLY THING WRONG was that a nail needed to be put into an eave which had come loose. That's it!

We test drove some vehicles this past weekend, but then realized that we really can't afford another car right now--but it's nice to dream!

The Lord has been extremely faithful, and we are praising him for it!

And on a completely unrelated note, John Piper has returned from his sabbatical in England and recently published a sermon that he gave on the doctrine of justification.