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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