Of all of the things I thought I would be doing when I was 34 years old, I never really imagined a day like today. God has given me so much! I woke up this morning living the incarnational life of an urban ministry practitioner in Homewood. Things were kind of crazy at my house because of my daughters, our dog, and some men from my church who are finishing off the final details of the mentoring center in our basement, so I escaped to a coffee shop to work on my doctoral dissertation for my research trip to Honduras next week. I'm also collecting some thoughts for my first ever sermon that I'm team teaching with my friend Doug Melder in a few weeks. This evening family and friends will be joining with me for my public ordination as a pastor (I officially became a pastor a couple months ago) at North Way Christian Community, and we'll celebrate back at my parents' farm after that.
Growing up, I never thought I would be a pastor, or live in the inner city, or write a doctoral dissertation, or have the opportunity to travel to cities around the world doing research and advancing the Kingdom of God. Living and working with the poor brings me great joy, investing in my wife and daughters is so amazing, learning new things constantly expands my worldview, and serving Christ as a pastor is a huge challenge. I honestly can't think of anything else that I'd rather be doing with my life at 34 years old. Life is full of surprises, risks, suffering, great joys and tremendous let downs, and everything in between. Regardless of the circumstances, or the dreams and desires that are on my heart, I know that the secret to life is to stay focused on loving the Lord no matter what life brings forth. If life comes at us one day at a time, then I am going to enjoy this day!
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