Thursday, June 01, 2023

           ^3-7 Thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that he is our Father and the source of all mercy and comfort. For he gives us comfort in our trials so that we in turn may be able to give the same sort of strong sympathy to others in theirs. Indeed, experience shows that the more we share Christ’s suffering the more we are able to give of his encouragement. This means that if we experience trouble we can pass on to you comfort and spiritual help; for if we ourselves have been comforted we know how to encourage you to endure patiently the same sort of troubles that we have ourselves endured. We are quite confident that if you have to suffer troubles as we have done, then, like us, you will find the comfort and encouragement of God.

           ^8-11 We should like you, our brothers, to know something of what we went through in Asia. At that time we were completely overwhelmed, the burden was more than we could bear, in fact we told ourselves that this was the end. Yet we believe now that we had this experience of coming to the end of our tether that we might learn to trust, not in ourselves, but in God who can raise the dead. It was God who preserved us from imminent death, and it is he who still preserves us. Further, we trust him to keep us safe in the future, and here you can join in and help by praying for us, so that the good that is done to us in answer to many prayers will mean eventually that many will thank God for our preservation.

       Ministry isn’t pretty.  It is sometimes like driving down a street with potholes.  Some of those potholes were caused by the faults and failures of others.  Some of those potholes were caused by me the last time I drove down that street.  But they are there and I’ve hit every one of them more than once.  I’ve suffered a lot of pain over the last 31 years.  I’ve been hounded by people who didn’t agree with me.  I’ve been drug through the mud.  I’ve been ignored by the very people Jesus sent me to shepherd.  It hurts.  It still hurts.  Sometimes, I wonder why.  I know the potholes I caused by youthful ignorance and determined zeal.  But what about the others?  Why?

       For 31 years, I’ve served God’s church as a United Methodist Pastor.  Now, I’m one of the old guys with a story to tell.  Problem is there’s no one to tell it to.  I’ve been through the trials and I’ve been comforted many times by the Lord, but no one comes to me for comfort.  I haven’t pastored Albany First, Porterfield, or St. Luke; so to many, I don’t even know what I’m talking about.  But I have been through the potholes.  Hit every one more than once and I have a story to tell.  Perhaps someone, somewhere will need me, someday.  O God, lead me to Your hurting shepherds that I may share in their pain and give them the comfort You’ve given me.  Amen!