Thoughts with Tim: Pastor with a dart ball board

Last week, I made a decision. As you may or may not know, I am the pastor of a church, and I am involved with many organizations in town. Thus, I am tasked to make lots of decisions. But what makes any one particular decision so important or noteworthy that I would write an article on it? Well, the reason I am writing about this particular decision is that it is not noteworthy in any way. It was a meaningless decision, and once I tell you what it is, you will probably question my sanity. That is what makes it so great.

I was sitting in my office about a week ago, and I decided that I needed a dart ball board. What is a dart ball board? It is a target that you hang on the wall that looks like a regular dart board, but it is made out of a felt material. It came with nine plastic balls wrapped with Velcro that stick to it when you throw them.

I know this makes me look like the consummate professional, but I can’t help it. Last week, I was sitting here looking around my office and I decided that I need a dart ball board. I went online, priced them, and I bought a whole set delivered for less than $5. It’s a nice big heavy board and the Velcro dart balls are also heavy so they fly really well.

I am not familiar with the rules of dart ball, but there are nine balls. Four red, Four pink and one yellow. I am guessing that the red and pink throw against each other and the winner gets the throw the yellow ball as a bonus. That is the way I am interpreting it.

I hung the board on the wall across from my desk. It is probably 10 feet away. On my first try, I stuck five of the nine balls. I feel like that was an impressive first attempt! After picking them up and throwing the other four again, I had two bullseyes. I have to tell you that my office manager came in and took a turn. She did not do nearly as well on her first attempt. She proofreads these articles for me, and I am curious if this detail will be edited out.

Why am I writing about some stupid toy I got in the mail today? Because I am sick to death writing about everything else. The world is a difficult place these days, and if we allow ourselves to get tunnel vision to only see all of the things that are wrong, it can be downright depressing. I am tired of train wrecks, natural disasters, victims of violence, and people who have given up on life. I understand we cannot ignore these things, but we also cannot fixate on them to the detriment of the rest of our lives.

That was the point I had gotten to. I had been reading the news, absorbing all of the terrible things going on around the world, and at that point, a thought came into my mind: dart ball board. Within 10 minutes, I had ordered one. I have been eagerly anticipating its arrival for most of last week. I purposely hung it where I have to see it every time I look at my clock. A pastor with a dart ball board? How ridiculous!

In this world with all of its bad news, both local and global, it can really get you down. I want to remind you of a Bible verse: Philippians 4:4 “Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!” If we get so distracted by all of the doom and gloom, we will lose the joy we are supposed to have for living in this world. This world is not a perfect place, and we should not expect it to be perfect. However, there is still much to enjoy, and we should not deprive ourselves of joy because of the mountain of sorrows we face every day.

Go find something to bring you joy. It may not be a dart ball board, but there is something. Don’t internalize all of the grief and fear that this world creates because that will ruin your joy. We can’t ignore what is wrong, but we can allow for some distraction in our lives, and I strongly urge you to find it.

You should do something that makes you smile every single day no matter what else is going on.