Keep Those Emails Coming!

I mean it! I've had number of emails this week regarding the sermon last Sunday and the new Sunday School Schedule.

I know I joke about getting emails all the time but the fact of the matter is that I really enjoy hearing from you on how I am doing. I enjoy the kudos (who doesn't like a pat on the back from time to time?) but I am constantly blessed by the folks that take a few moments to send me feedback, positive or negative. Those people who don't agree are usually sensitive and caring in their approach and, I have to be honest, it is usually a big help. It makes me go back and look more carefully at what I have said.

I thought, for years, that I had the greatest job in the world. I really enjoyed the car business. I loved the people and the cars and the unpredictable nature of all of it. Every day was different and unique. I imagined myself retiring from running car dealerships somewhere in my mid-sixties, to a home near a golf course. Little did I know, God had other plans.

When I came on staff in 2002, I was excited and amazed that God would allow me to go into full time ministry at my age. It was scary, invigorating, energizing, challenging and everything I loved about the car business only amped up about 100 times. My duties were small groups, counseling and, in general helping Angus, my best friend and mentor. Angus had been working with me for over 12 years, showing me the ministry and patiently putting up with some of the absolutely preposterous things I said and did.

I had known I was called to the ministry for quite some time. I just didn't see any way it could ever happen. My wife had known it much longer than I did and without her encouragement, I might not have had the courage to make the leap when the time came.

As blessed and excited as I was to be in full time service to the Lord, there was also a deeply ingrained compulsion to preach, another unlikely turn of events, as I saw it. God, again, had another plan for me other than the one I had contrived. and when the opportunity came, I nervously but expectantly responded to that calling.

I'm here to tell you that the experience is wonderful, exhilarating and absolutely terrifying! I take the responsibility of standing in the pulpit very seriously. My prayer, each week is to bring clarity, life and application to the Scriptures. I feel the weight of accountability and the burden of accuracy. I feel, at the same time, the freedom of knowing that it is God's Word, His work and not mine that can change people's lives. I guess this is one of the reasons I am so careful about the content and focus of my sermons. I don't want anything to distract us from the Word of God and we have so preciously few minutes each week to share it.

All that being said, I have the blessing of being able to do what I was called to do. I can sympathize with Eric Liddell when he said, "I know that God has made me to be a missionary, but He has made me fast as well and I can feel His pleasure when I run."

Having shared all that with you, let me share this as well. I am, in every way, shape and form, a work in progress. I am still learning (I hope I never stop). God is still teaching me and developing me. That's why I appreciate your input so much. I pray that I can learn from my mistakes and give God the glory for my successes. I find out which is which when I hear from you.

We are all aware, I hope, that all this is God's work and that none if us, particularly me, can take credit for what He has done. But He has put us together as a body to edify, build, and minister to each other. So let's do it! Send me a note. Tell me how you feel. Share your joy and your pain! And, when we disagree, let me know. I'll be happy to issue and apology if I'm wrong about something and promise that we will all be able to move forward in unity and harmony knowing that God "causes all things to work together for the good to those that are called according to His purpose."