POSTSCRIPT




Three thoughts have come to mind since my post of October 3rd..  Let me share them with you.
 



First thought has to do with last evening when around 9:00pm I finished printing the last few pages of my blog and placed the above binder, with 247 pages in Leona's lap.  I completed what I set out to do in April 2017 and that was to answer your question, Zack, re my pastoral journey.  


Well, no sooner had I finished the printing and placing the pages in sheet protectors when I remembered what I had said to Leona earlier yesterday morning.  October 26th is the 60th anniversary of my first Sunday, October 26th, 1958, when I preached my first sermon as pastor of the Lac La Biche Evangelical Free Church and the Hylo Evangelical Free Church.  Sixty years ago today!!   

My second thought or postscript actually comes from your Nana, Leona.  She reminded me that if you, Zack, or any other young person reading this should find a young lady that you would like to spend the rest of your life with, make certain that she is on the same page as you are.  I realize that times have changed considerably, with the role of a pastor.  Sixty years ago, when I first began my ministry, the wife of most pastors that I knew did not have a job outside of the home.  In fact as I sit here now, I cannot think of one pastor whose wife had a full time paying job.  All the pastors that I knew had a wife that served alongside of them.  I have mentioned a time or so in previous posts that Leona was like an associate to me in my ministry.

Times have changed and nearly every pastor that I know today has a wife who is earning a second income for the family.  I am not saying that is wrong, I’m just stating that we pastors of five or six decades ago knew that our spouse was supportive of our ministry because they worked with us in the ministry, without pay, I must add.

If you marry someone that has a paying job, make sure that she is supportive of your ministry and participates in the same as much as possible.  I know a very good preacher who resigned from pastoral ministry because his wife did not like him being a pastor.  A very gifted preacher, lost to the church because his wife was on a different page.

The third thought has only been in my memory for a little over three weeks.  It happened October 1st.  That morning, Leona and Sharilyn and I went for our morning walk.  I said to the two ladies, Sharilyn was visiting us for the week, “Would you ladies like a Tim Horton’s coffee.”  The answer was yes.  After purchasing three coffees, we drove out of West Oaks Mall when our light turned green.  Sharilyn told me later that I was moving slowly.  The car beside me was turning left and blocked my view.  Suddenly a car, going a fast speed, barrelled through his red light, swerving into the two oncoming lanes, missing us by a foot or two.  In the providence of God there were no cars in those two lanes and he made his exit into a credit union parking lot.  Immediately, as we continued on, somewhat shaken, the first few words of the song “My Tribute” came to my mind.
 
"How can I say thanks
For the things you have done for me,
Things so undeserved,
Yet you gave to prove You love for me..."


Together with the words of that song, I figured that God was not finished with me yet.   
  
Well, this is my final word: God took a shy boy like me and called me to be a pastor.  For my pastoral journey, such as it was, I say THANK YOU LORD that You saw fit to use me.  TO GOD BE ALL THE GLORY! 


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