Category Archives: perseverance

Old Pastors and Those Who Will Be

I saw an old pastor friend recently. I don’t know exactly when you should start calling a pastor “old” but he was well past his 80th birthday, so I guess he qualifies. He retired from the full-time pastorate some years ago due to health but remains busy as an interim pastor and preaches frequently in those in between times. And he is doing great work for the kingdom.

I want to suggest that our old pastors have great value for our generation. And, I suggest that our younger pastors would do well to get to know, love and appreciate some older pastors–before they get there themselves!

Here are some reasons young ministers- and the church as a whole- should value our older ministers and Continue reading

A Dying Man

Recently, a man with a terminal disease came to speak with me about his funeral. That is a sobering conversation to have. While we don’t know how long he has left in this life (does anyone really?) it reminded me of some important things.
– We are all dying. This is the land of the dying. I look forward to going to the land of the living one day. But this is not that place.
-Life is fleeting. Time goes forward, never backwards. Young men become old men quickly. We never get to relive it.
-Big things need to be big. At the end of life we tend to think of family and love and joy and faith. Smaller things don’t seem that important from that perspective.
-Faith matters. This man gave his life to Christ just a Continue reading

Oceans, row boats and big sharks

I’m a land lubber. Never sailed, never rowed more than a lap around a (small) lake. But I recently read two books about water so now I’m kind of an expert.
“The Boys in the Boat” is the story of nine American rowers who won gold in the 1936 Olympics. It is a fascinating story of these young men. But the real fascination was the story of one of the men who grew up under extreme difficulties- death of a young mother, unkind stepmother, father without willingness to intercede. His story is worth the read. And this is a very well written book.
The second book is Continue reading