Thursday, November 03, 2005

Just a guy who's a pastor

Tonight both Lauralea and I had to be at meetings. To bad they weren't together, we could have shared a cab.


My meeting was long and profitable. Lauralea's meeting was long, but I haven't heard the profitability factor yet. Apparently she just got in before I did.


Anyway, during the course of our work tonight we got to talking about the different kinds of churches I've pastored at. I was kind of surprised by what the last 20 years of my life looks like, doing this pastoring gig.


Started out as laypastor in a church of hundreds. Two official languages, one unofficial. Mostly a church of immigrants. Good, hardworking people. I worked at Canadian Tire during the days and the church at nights and weekends. What a start.


Then we took on a new churchplant in the south end of Winnipeg. When we got there the number added up to nearly 20. Oh man we worked hard there, getting it established.  I'll never forget the day we finally had a Sunday morning service and a hundred people were there. We worked a lot with broken people then. Many were just getting to know God at that time. We started a community foodbank and I believe we tried every kind of outreach known to mankind. It was there that I learned to pray.


Then we moved to Prince Albert, to this different conference of churches. The fifty year old church was hurting deeply and the average length of stay for their pastors had been 3 years each. When I showed up the only thing I knew for sure was that I heard God say just love them, so I tried to do that. Often I failed. Occasionally I got it right. She hasn't grown a lot in numbers, but what she lacks in numerical growth she has made up for in maturity and spiritual growth.


There it is. Three different places with three different stories. They've left me with a nice little body of experience. Wow, where did those 20 odd years go to?


As I drove home reflecting on this history of mine I came to some conclusions.


Boy, God likes me and has blessed my life so deeply. I honestly figure I have one blessed existence.


Boy, have we worked hard. From the days of driving to the church right after work still wearing my Canadian Tire uniform, to the multiplicity of attempts made to reach our community, to the experience of having people fight against healing. We. Have. Worked. Hard.


Boy, I haven't eaten enough pizza in my life. (That came while I was driving past Venice House pizza)


Boy, I'm tired. Suddenly I can't believe how tired I am. 20 years straight (24 years if you include my training years) packed into this 42 year old body. (At least my cholesterol is good!!)


 


And now, I'm tired and going to bed. Didn't sleep so well last night, don't ya know.


g'nite.

3 comments:

  1. I hope you're sleeping well. You may have been blessed, but you're also a blessing. Thanks for sharing it around.

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  2. I hope you are rested this day Randall. I had a rough one two nights ago also, but last night I slept very well. Today I feel like a new man and I hope today is one of those remarkably productive Fridays for you.

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  3. May God bless you and strengthen you for your work in His Kingdom. Thank You for being a pastor.

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