Renewed Sense of Zeal for Ministry

Sometimes when Kevin goes out of town, I get a chance to preach at our church. Since 2006 I think I've had a shot from the pulpit maybe 1-2 times per year. Most recently I delivered a message on December 28th, 2008. It was an encouragement to approach 2009 as an opportunity to build with God. I finally had the courage to review it online tonight and was happy about what I had said. I didn't say anything too stupid, and I agreed with all the applications! You can listen to my sermon here.

Since this speaking opportunity didn't turn into a memorable disaster, and since I actually enjoy preaching (and since I have a passion for spreading the God's word, God's ways, and God's hope in this world) I've often thought about (logistically) how I could do more preaching. Would that mean going back to school for some kind of seminary degree? Seeing if some congregation somewhere would be interested in me as I am? Serving as a lay minister in a situation where a vocational pastor was unavailable? As you can see, there are more questions than answers in this paragraph.

I think one of the most frustrating things in life is what I learned in econ class to call the "opportunity cost". Essentially, if I do one thing, I have to give up something else because there just won't be time to do them all. For example, I would find it interesting to be a vocational pastor, a missionary in Bible translation, an author, a business owner (I've thought about owning bookstores, restaurants, hotels, B&B's, anything where I vaguely understand the business), a counselor, and a traveling, seminar-giving speaker. For all of these choices I have different specific motivations, but for most of them, the delight is getting the worship of God and the reality of the gospel in front of as many people as possible.

Also at the heart of this internal discussion is the fact that I like my current job and have spent many years building the infrastructure that makes my workload manageable.

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Evan is into looking for "Christian Worldviews" (as he puts it) in any movies he watches or books that he reads. Sometimes I can't believe how blessed I am as a parent to have children like these who really listen to what you tell them and then try to apply it as quickly as possible. A word of qualification... Evan's not a sophisticated literary analyst yet, and so some of his read-into-the-text attempts seem hokey, but he was able to discern for himself the scene at the beginning of LoTR II where Gandalf is taken by the monster and disappears into the flaming abyss. He perceived Gandalf as a type of Christ in his "death" and descent into "hell". When he reappears, he is clothed in light: no longer Gandalf the Grey, he is Gandalf the White who has triumphed over his enemy. Evan easily recognized the majesty of Jesus pictured through these cinematic masterpieces.

Aidan asked this evening if I would teach him Latin words and if I would please read to him from his Bible. What problems to face!

Toby's wound continues to be... wound-y. He has another appointment tomorrow in which we will see if he has made any progress. Please continue to pray for Toby.

Avery is becoming remarkable in her own way. She understands a lot of what we say and is picking up some mothering traits from Tara (or maybe just instinct...). For example, she heard me talking this morning about not being able to find my gloves or my ear brassiere. She toddled into another room, picked up two non-matching gloves, and brought them to me. Last night when she thought dinner was ready, she planted herself at the top of the basement stairs and yelled, "Boys! Table!" over and over again. Now, she's not that articulate and they aren't that moved by someone babbling at them from the stairs, but Tara and I understood perfectly and were just delighted.

Well, back to school tomorrow morning. Finals start on Wednesday.