Are Pastors Christians?

I admit it...for a long time I have struggled with an addiction to people pleasing. Granted...those who know me today would probably say I am better at NOT pleasing people. My response is simply this: everybody's got to be good at SOMETHING!

Actually...I started thinking about this the other day at breakfast with a retired pastor friend of mine from Windsor, Ontario. Chuck's a wonderful guy....35 years in ONE church...one that prospered under his leadership.

He retired a couple of years ago. At breakfast the other day I asked him what he has looked most forward to in retirement. His response shocked me. He said the thing he looked forward to most was NOT DISAPPOINTING PEOPLE EVERYDAY. To tell you the truth...I stopped in mid-bite of my breakfast to ask him to repeat himself. I was incredulous. He had just articulated what I had long felt.

One of the hard parts of pastoral ministry is the constant sense that somewhere, someone is pointing their finger at you and asking WHY you're doing something a certain way or why you are NOT doing something a certain way. In a very real sense...that you're always disappointing someone.

I awoke the other morning with this on my mind. As is often the case, the Holy Spirit uses early morning to speak to my heart before the background noise of the day gets too loud. What He said was surprising. 'Disappointment is the difference between performance and expectation.' What He said next was healing to my soul. 'I can't really control the expectations of others. What I CAN control is HOW I live. And How CLOSE I live to Jesus.' I love how the Spirit speaks to our broken places.

Then a question began to occur to me: when people are disappointed and they express that disappointment hurtfully...are they expressing that hurt to me as a pastor or to me as a brother in Christ. Honestly, I suspect it's more the former...as a pastor.

As pastors, we are open targets for unhappy consumer-Christians. Our sermons are commodities that are compared to other sermons like items in the produce section of Food Lion. Our programs are all compared to other programs at other churches larger and smaller. And if we come up short, we're reminded of the deficiency.

What I've come to is this: unless someone is willing to relate to me as a fellow Christ-follower first, I will no longer be the recipient of their disappointment. To quote St. Mick of the order of the Rolling Stones... 'you can't always get what you want'. From here on out, I will first ask...are you speaking to me as a pastor or a brother? If we can establish the brotherhood first, then the rest will be a conversation of one heart to the other. In THAT we will BOTH find Jesus.

Sadness and it's spiritual clues

Thinking through this series called Signs(what our emotions say about our walk with God), I came to sadness. Naturally, we think of depression...the poster child of sadness.

But sadness can be less clinical, less chronic, more in the moment. It can be pervasive and persistent, but not true depression.

Sadness is not an emotion we like to hang onto. We typically do whatever we can to rid ourselves of this nasty little cloud that seems to hang over our lives from time to time.

Some people shop to lose it. Other people work to lose it. Some worship. others pray.

In it's essence, sadness says we've been disappointed. Perhaps its been a loss. Or maybe an unkind word hurled our way.

But what does it SAY about our experience with God?

For me...it is a clarion call to go to my Father, to crawl up on His lap, to rest in His arms, and tell Him where it hurts.

We SHOULD have this kind of opportunity with our friends or our spouses, but there's nothing like sharing it with our Father. It's a lot like when we were a child and we skinned our knee. We'd go crying to our mom or dad and they'd pick us up and maybe stick a band-aid on it. But it wasn't the band-aid that made it better...it was their loving attention.

Sadness calls us to that same experience....to run to our Father and climb up in His arms, and feel Him lavish us in loving attention. In those precious moments we tell Him about our sadness and walk through it with Him. He shares it with us. And walks with us til we feel it no more.

Bottom line...it doesn't matter where the sadness is coming from. The very best response is to find our Heavenly Father and draw close to Him...and to rest in His arms...to tell Him where it hurts...and experience His loving comfort.

Try it the next time you're sad. You'll be amazed.

What's Age Got to Do with It?

Ok...I admit it...I'm a book addict. I read...a LOT. Books are amazing...no batteries, no software, and totally portable.

So when I got the chance to get a free book here in there, I thought...why not?

So...I signed on the Thomas Nelson's book review blogger program. Sweet.

And then I noticed this book...What's Age Got to Do with It?

Having had a birthday recently, I am a bit more mindful of my age. In fact, I just got off of the treadmill after 3 miles. I'm not going down without a fight!

Anyway...the book I chose to review was, in fact, written by a woman FOR women. Yeah, I know...no such thing as free!

Anyhow, I'll have a woman's perspective on aging and h0w to avoid it.

The author is Robin McGraw...name sound familiar? McGraw...as in Dr. PHIL? Yep, she's his wife. Which also means her celeb life is a BIT different than yours and mine. Example...I didn't have a personal trainer to stand by me as I sweated on the treadmill a few minutes ago.

The book was actually interesting. But as Solomon once pointed out, there's nothing new under the sun...OR in this book as it turns out.

That said, there are some transferable principles. Like the idea that fitness DOES help us remain young. And nutrition (specifically no more sugar, dairy products, and peanut butter) was helpful for her. I sorta moved through the whole skin care chapter pretty quick...not exactly a huge concern of mine. neither was the makeup chapter.

The faith chapter, though left to the end and rather brief, was helpful in that it raises the idea that faith really DOES contribute to health and longevity by helping us remain healthy.

Ok...so there it is...a review.

One other thing guys...as incredible as it may seem...a read like this now and then MIGHT even help us understand our wives...and for that I'm grateful!

Me...Vers 5.3

Yep, it happened. I had a birthday...ANOTHER birthday.

All my Facebook friends seemed to mount a campaign to remind me...one email after another saying happy birthday. Ok...I got it. And thanks. IT's nice to have others think of you...if only it were not as 'gee, he really IS getting old'.

Version 5.3...I wonder if the update got rid of some of the glitches from the 5.2 version...like staying too busy, neglecting God more than I care to admit...trying to do too much. Being involved in too much.

Still, moving into vers. 5.3 feels WAY better than moving to vers 5.2. The future didn't look so good then. In fact, truth be told, I didn't WANT a future then. Everything was dark. Being near people was a challenge, even painful.

I moved the new version while in Philadelphia. I spent that first day of the new version staring in awe at the Liberty Bell and in the hushed silence of the Assembly hall at Independence Hall. The last one to leave the room after the tour.

That visit fueled the visionary in me. I reflected on the risks those leaders took to form a new nation 'under God'. I inwardly wondered...am I still willing to take risks? One of the downsides of vers. 5.3 is that its easier to just let things be as they are.

Fortunately, God continues to birth new dreams in me...uh oh, that's Joel 2:28 '...old men will dream dreams, young men will see visions.

The thing I love about life in the Kingdom is that we don't become obsolete as we age, we gather the wisdom born of LOTS of earlier versions and we offer it up to God...and He uses it as HE sees fit.

That said, I'm excited about seeing how God will use vers. 5.3 for his purposes. It's His call. I'm good with that.