Adrenaline and Stress- Archibald Hart

Typically I read books for others, with them in mind.  Each time I picked this book up to read I was the nail being hammered.  A seemingly perfect read for this point in my journey.  Nearly every chapter echoed, “I never knew that!”  The most eye opening concept to me was the difference between good stress and bad stress.  Having experienced a major ministry blow recently, no one would have been able to convince me that this was less harmful than staying in a high energy ministry.  Hart assures that even good things can cause bad stress (13).  The stress that kills is not the bad stress.  In fact the stress that does us in is the stress of challenge, high-energy output and over commitment (54).  Like a good “Aha!” moment Dr. Hart eloquently scripted these concepts over and over again.  The human body doesn’t distinguish between whether a stressor is from within or from without the body- it responds the same in either case (25).  Like revving up a car engine can actually be good for the engine in moderation but constant redlining of the engine will cause too much carbon build up.  The engine and our bodies  actually age faster (27).  It is not enough to eat right and keep cholesterol down (28).  Adrenaline and stress must be managed.

I understand fully that I am Type-A.  I have been an originator and developer of high paced and high-energy ministries for nearly 2 decades.  Currently I am in a ministry that is less stressful in my estimation and I am getting antsy.  When I exercise I always go hard.  When I sleep I sleep hard.  Almost everything in my life has been spent in a “Hurry Sickness/Urgent” kind of way.  Dr. Hart’s words have definitely sobered me up a bit.  I am hoping that it sticks.  I laughed out loud when Hart suggested to the Pastor not to use a bulldozer all the time when at times a garden rake would do (129).  I experienced hope throughout the book.  In each chapter, Hart gave clear ways to solve the adrenaline and stress issues.

All ministry leaders need to read a book like this.  We just spent 2 hours as a staff team and read Wayne Cordeiro’s book “Leading on Empty.”  Each staff person took a chapter and explained it.  I was able to speak clearly and authoritatively as it related to adrenaline and stress.  Creativity is a high pursuit for my ministry in the past, now and will be in the future.  I was shocked to know that “psyching” myself up would only cause my creativity to diminish (189).  I found the steps in the creative process tremendously worthwhile to come back to tilling the soil of the mind, seeding the soil, allowing time for germination and gleaning the benefits (195).  When it is all said in done Psalm 8 must be heeded, “Who is man that you are mindful of him?” The answer really is, “Not much, but God does and is mindful of us!”  So with that in mind I appreciated Hart’s reminders.  “Remind yourself that you are a just a very tiny cog in a very big cosmos,” says Hart.  Stop playing Messiah and I will have considerable less stress.  I must force myself to deliberately slow down, quickly resolve those emotions that are high adrenaline and stress (134-135).