And Another One Bites the Dust

Ironically, I used to have a blog on blogspot that I can no longer access called "Life Between the Bridges".  It referred to the fact that my husband and I lived in New Orleans, Louisiana, where we literally lived life between several bridges - the Crescent City Connection, the Huey P. Long Bridge, the 4th Street Bridge, the Causeway, etc.  You just couldn't go many places without encountering a bridge.

In March, our family moved to New York State - 19 miles outside of New York City.  Talk about life between the bridges!  Now, we have the George Washington, the Brooklyn, need I say more?  There are bridges everywhere.  In the new life of the Christian family there are more bridges than ever.  The closest one being the Tappan Zee, which will soon undergo a complete restoration.

So, out of necessity, and since I can no longer remember the password for Life Between the Bridges, I decided that Between the Bridges 2 should be born.  Don't be misled.  The title of this blog does not refer to the fact that yet another blog has bit the dust.  As a matter of fact, I would have happily gone on claiming Life Between the Bridges, as it couldn't be more of an apt title than it would certainly be today.  Nope.  Just because I can't remember that old password doesn't mean a thing, except that the 3 blogs I already created might die a painful death . . .

The title of this particular entry refers instead to the loss of yet another friend to the Ministry of the Gospel.  He was a pastor, and I am pretty sure he was a good one.  However, add him to the list of living casualties that yet another church has caused to leave the ministry.  Let's face it.  There just aren't enough of us to pastor every church out there.  If there were, things might be different.

You should know, pastoring a church is one of the hardest things anyone can do.  Sure, you don't have to go fight a war against Afghanistan.  You don't have to wait in an ER for some terribly injured person to come in to repair.  Nope, the people you wait for don't necessarily have visible injuries at all.  You know they have injuries at all because they are busy injuring you.  As I have always been fond of saying, "hurting people hurt people".  Not just a saying for Psychologists or well-meaning mothers anymore.

Since we graduated Seminary, we have watched many qualified, carefully trained men drop by the wayside on the road of ministry.  They are still out there somewhere.  Some sell real estate.  Some work in various forms of counseling of teenagers or other hurting people.  Some have no idea where their next meal will come from.

This particular friend is moving on faith alone to an area where he hopes to support his family without putting them in a glass house where the whole congregation looks in and tries to tell them how to live life.  What will he do?  Not sure.  His wife will clean houses and businesses while they try to make the rent and feed the family and still pay for a house in a state where they will never live again from 2 churches ago.

So what's the purpose of all this?  Here it is:  You have the opportunity to make a difference in the life of your pastor.  Chances are you will never know just how discouraging his job is until he surprises you one Sunday from the pulpit with his completely unexpected resignation.  I have heard horror stories of pastors in line at the funeral of their child when along comes the deacon board to fire them.  In the middle of their child's funeral!  Is gaining power in a church really that important to people, that they would stand in that line of horror and grief to fire the man that they and God called to that post?  Because, as far as I can see, there's more power tripping going on in God's house than the federal government sometimes.  Sorry if that offends you, but if it does, examine your heart and make sure you aren't one of "those guys".

Encourage the man that God has called to lead your congregation.  Trust his judgment unless you can see that it goes directly against God's Word (not just your opinion or desires), and then handle the situation with grace and care.  After all, you have never lived your life perfectly in line with Scripture at all times, right?  If you did, you wouldn't need grace, which, by the way, you do.  Uphold his family - no matter how they dress, what they do with their hair, how much makeup they wear, or how overweight you determine that they are.  It is a hard job, with lots of stress and much prayerful hard work.  This work is hard on the family, who sits at home wondering when their husband/father will return and spend time with them, who really should come first anyway.  Love on that man until it hurts.  Give him the support he needs, and his family, too.  You may never know how much it really means.