Intro

Hello and welcome to my blog.

My name is Dr. Barry James Buzza. I’m a husband, father, papa, pastor, author, and all round nice guy. Just ask anyone.

I consider myself blessed to pastor a large church filled with caring and giving people, who are extremely talented. It is through the support of this congregation that I am able to pursue more than just being a pastor. I travel to Asia to speak at conferences that encourage and exhort local pastors and I write books about my experiences that help others learn about their destiny in life.

Hopefully, my blog will be an extension of my work. If you have any questions, feel free to email me or post a comment. Unless I am out of town or busy, I’ll respond in a timely manner. (Well, timely for me since I stay clear of computers as much as possible. If you don’t want to wait for a response, you can always purchase one of my books. Did I mention I used to be in sales?)

And speaking of being busy . . .

When the young people from our church were heading out on a missions trip, I got up early to help drive some of our team to the airport. They were going to Costa Rica to construct buildings, teach children, care for the sick and give gifts of food and clothes. It was 3:30 a.m. and we were riding down the almost empty highway, when we came upon a car that was stalled by the side of the dark road. In the seconds that passed between our seeing the man in distress and our opportunity to stop and help, we passed among ourselves several comments:

“We should really stop and help the guy!”

“Maybe he needs a telephone to call for a tow truck or a ride somewhere!”

“No, we’re running late already – we haven’t got time to stop. We don’t want to miss our plane!”

Thankfully, as I pulled slowly by him to check him out, I saw him on the telephone; he smiled at us and waved us on, so we didn’t have to risk being late for our plane. But as we drove on, we quipped, “Oh yeah, here we are Christians on a mission for God to help the poor in Costa Rica, but we’re too busy doing stuff for God to help someone right under our noses who may have needed us.”

“Maybe it was a test from God,” said someone. “If it was, we might just have flunked it!”

The problem we were having that morning was one that I’m trying to overcome – no white spaces in my time. A few weeks ago, I used the illustration that the white spaces in a book or magazine with no printing or pictures crowding them, actually make what is written easier to see and read.

In our lives, white spaces in our emotional or physical energy, in our finances or in our daily schedules give us energy, money and time to enjoy the serendipitous opportunities of life and take the time to go about discovering our life's destiny. I learned years ago not to plug my calendar so full in a day that I can’t stop and visit for two or three minutes with a child who’s toddling beside his mommy at the church, talk with a lady who phones in distress and needs an encouraging word or pray with a guy who walks in off the street for a cup of coffee. If I’m too busy for the “smelling the roses” moments, I’m too busy period! I’ve had to get past the idea that my time is more important than anybody else’s!

The other day, I was visiting some friends and noticed a plaque that was pinned to their family bulletin board, so I asked them about it.

The wife said to me, “Well, we moved into this smaller home to try and cut down our financial pressures and reorganize our lives so that we have more time as a family to breath. I found that cardboard plaque in our junk drawer. The poem begins, ‘Lord slow me down…,’ but I haven’t had time to read the rest of it yet!”

I laughed with her because I understood.

I’m glad you took time out of your hectic schedule to stop and read my blog today. I hope you’ll save a little white space in your week to drop by again soon.

Barry