Paul Golangco: Roof Sitting and Lament

Do you find yourself more productive in the morning or evening?

I am most definitely a night owl, but I’ve got a 1 year old and 3 year old that prevent me from living in that wheelhouse.

I have had to change my expectations of what my time with the Lord looks like, and I’m still trying to figure that out. Before I had my kids I could spend an hour reading, journaling, praying but now it’s like, do I have 5 minutes? Okay great. Let me get those 5 minutes in.

What routines, places or tools help lead you into productivity?

Still trying to figure a lot of that out. After the kids go to sleep, I try to spend that time with my wife, but in the morning I’ll head over to the coffee shop, get a cappuccino or a latte, and do some of reading or journaling. It’s quick. Just get into the scriptures, sit on it for a bit, and then get ready for my day.

Whenever I come home, whenever necessary, I’ve found that the roof of my house is a great place to go and sit to meditate or recenter for a few minutes. I was talking to my counselor, and he said “what is the place in your house that you can have dedicated alone time?”. I said my toilet. He said “you might want somewhere else”.

The roof of my house is the only place I can go that no one else will follow me there. It’s been great. The first time I had this thought was when I was cleaning out gutters. Even though it was loud because I could still hear cars, and people on the street I noticed it was really peaceful. There was a breeze, shade under the tree, and a stillness about it.

… I’ve invited my wife a couple times, but she isn’t keen on it.

I think there is some scripture in the Bible about this, but I’m going to ignore that for right now. (Proverbs 21:9)

What spiritual disciplines come naturally and which ones are more of a struggle to get into?

In all honestly, I would say none of them come that naturally to me.

I am just not a very disciplined person in general, so the things I can do fairly easily that I can wrap into a routine, are those lightning strike type of prayers. Where I’m just walking, driving, and where I think of something. Kinda like the Nehemiah prayer, I’m in the middle of telling a story, and then I’m just going to pray real quick, then go on with the story.

Another one that might come more naturally is gratitude, just having a heart of thankfulness, but with the anxiety that has creeped into my life with Covid, which is something I need to weed out of my life, it’s been a bit more difficult.

I’ve been trying to fast in the morning, and it’s really more or less just not eating, less than a spiritual reason which is something I would like to work on.

Do you have tools, books or resources you’ve used in the past 90 days that have helped with faith-based productivity?

Right now, I’m trying to memorize Psalm 112 so I’m using an app called Fighter Verses. It just helps me go through, and pick out which verses I want to memorize and then it goes through them with me.

The Dwell App is something that I use on my drives, cause I have a 5 minute drive to my office. So I’ll just pop in Psalm 112, and will have those verse spoken over me. Then I have a one minute pause after it’s done so I can reflect on it.

As far as productivity, once again it’s tough because of Covid, and the name of the game has just been survive, but one thing that has encouraged me is A. W. Tozer’s – The Pursuit of God, he starts off the book with saying “we don’t need more theologians, we need more men that are in love with Jesus”. He also ends each short chapter with a prayer, which gives me something to do after reading it and something I can put it into practical use immediately.

Also, honestly, my calendar, keeping my emails organized, some spreadsheets to help with finances, and Asana for project management are pretty much my main productivity tools at the moment.

Is there anything that God is speaking or pressing into you at the moment?

We are in Covid season, but also in the season of George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor. The world is just in a lot of turmoil especially here in the States. I think one of the two themes the Lord is showing me is a theme of Lament. Just to be able to say I am sad, this hurts, and that I’m lamenting the loss of stability or perceived security or the loss of life, and things like that.

I don’t think we as Americans do this very well, even this conversation about faith-based productivity is all about moving forward, but sometimes we just need to stop and lament.

Another on-going theme the Lord is showing me, is remember.

We look back on Deuteronomy and it’s a story about the Israelites not remembering. An entire book of the Bible is dedicated to not remembering. Gratitude is most stirred up in my heart when I remember where the Lord has taken me, and where He is taking me. When I look forward to where the Lord might be taking me; the best thing I can do is look back and see what the Lord has already done, look at His character and know I can hold on to those things moving forward.