Hello everyone,
There has been something that has been bothering the "Engineer" part of me for a lonnnng while. We have heard it from the platform time and time again about what we SHOULD be doing as "Servants of God". So, today I FINALLY sat down and calculated if it is even POSSIBLE to do all of the study, meetings, field service, secular work, school, etc, etc.
Assumptions: This is based on a married brother, with two shool-age children, who is NOT a ministerial servant, and who is ONLY putting in 2 hours a week in the field ministry. Here is my Excel spreadsheet. Please advise if I have left anything out, ok??
| Task | Comments | Total Time (Hours) |
| Attend Meetings | ||
| Public Talk and Watchtower | NOTE: Meeting Attendance Time assumes a 1hour drive time (1/2 hour each way), plus 1 hour time to get ready (shower, dress, etc) | 4 |
| Theocratic School and Svc Meeting | 3.5 | |
| Book Study | 3 | |
| Study/Preparation Time | ||
| Study w/ Family | 1 | |
| PREPARE for family study | Preparation COULD take longer... | 1 |
| Study with mate | 1 | |
| PREPARE for study w/ mate | Preparation COULD take longer... | 1 |
| Field Service | Includes same prep as meetings (2 hours travel and prep) PLUS additional 1/2 hour for meeting and travel to territory | 5.5 |
| PREPARE for field service | 0.5 | |
| Bible reading | 15 mins/day x 7 days | 1.75 |
| Personal Study | 1 | |
| Study Projects | 0.5 | |
| Prepare talks for Ministry School | Figuring minimum 4 hours prep work to give one talk a month = 1 hour (avg) per week | 1 |
| Physical Health Issues | ||
| Eating | 30 mins per meal, 3 meals a day, 7 days a week = 10.5 hours/week | 10.5 |
| Sleeping | 8 hrs/nite X 7 nites | 56 |
| Family | ||
| Help Children w/ homework | 2 children, 15 mins minimum per child, 5 days a week = 2.5 hours | 2.5 |
| Recreation | Maybe a movie, a picnic, or a hike | 4 |
| Spend time with spouse | Talking, walking, emotional support | 1 |
| Housekeeping | Cooking, cleaning, laundry, car maintenance, etc - 1 hour/day | 7 |
| Personal Hygene | Showering in the morning, shaving, brushing teeth, waste elimination, etc (assuming 1 hour per day) | 7 |
| Secular | ||
| Work (or school with homework) | Minimum 9 hours/day, plus travel time (1/2 each way) = 50 hours MIN (assuming NO overtime!) | 50 |
| TOTAL | 162.75 | |
| Available hours per week = 24x7 = | 168 | |
| Extra "spare" hours for "buying out the opportune time" (for PRAYER, bible studies, additional field activity, hobbies, pets, overtime at work, association with brothers, secular studies, TV, movies, "marital due", etc, etc) | 5.25 |
SO, after all is said and done, we have a "spare" 5.25 hours for the extra little nice things... no WONDER we could never do it all, and suffered the associated guilt of "falling short"!!!
Take care,
Pooh