![]() ![]() Truthfully it has always been a bit of a struggle for me. Kind of like how parents really only like their own kids, that is how I feel about all of you.Īnd you should know, this thankfulness has been a long time coming for me, only because I have always thought that being a pastor is such a strange job and I wasn’t ever quite sure how well I fit into this role. I don’t want to be anyone else’s pastor and I am not so sure I would be much good at it anyway. But more specifically, I am thankful that I get to be YOUR pastor. What I am getting at, and really what I wanted to tell you is that following JESUS with you all during this crazy year has confirmed something in me that I was never quite sure I would feel totally confident in: I am thankful to be a pastor. So, thank you, from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU. I’m not sure where exactly I would be without all of you, but it freaks me out to think about it. ![]() In fact, I don’t even think it would be an exaggeration to say that I’m not so sure I would have made it through this year without the accumulation of your encouragement and your love and your grace toward me. Not one word or second that you put into those encouragements was wasted, I promise you that. I want you all to know that I have read all of them, most them I have read multiple times as reminders. Sometimes they were so heartfelt that I could barely keep reading through the tears, while other times they were simple, short encouragements and jokes that made me smile. But for every one of those stories, I have 10 others where so many of you have taken the time to reach out and check on me, pray with me, or just send me a card or a text or a note or an email. Someone allowed their emotions to get the better of them and fired off an email or text that punched me in the gut more than a few times. I have had many moments this year where I have been incredibly discouraged by others. If there is any silver lining to this year at all, it is that it has shown me over and over again how privileged I am to follow Jesus with all of you and this letter is my best attempt to express that to you. No, I promise this will not be a personal whine session, instead I wanted to take some time to tell you how incredibly thankful I am to be your pastor. We have all been in this mess together and we have felt the sting of this year deeply and personally. That’s sobering.īut I am not writing to you so that you feel bad for me. At the time of this writing, the statistic is becoming widely accepted that 70% of pastors in this country are looking for other jobs. ![]() (Which I still may be those things for sure, but at least not for believing this year was really hard haha!) Between the coronavirus pandemic, racial justice issues, and the election year chaos, not to mention the constant politicizing and emotional polarization of all of these things, this year will be remembered as one of the most exhausting, frustrating, and confusing years as a pastor that I am surely ever to experience. Honestly, I am thankful for this because somewhere around May I was feeling like I was just a big sissy and a bit of whiner. I have had enough well-seasoned, experienced, veteran pastors tell me that this has been the hardest year of ministry that they have ever experienced for me to know that I am not alone in feeling like these past 9 months have been brutal. As I sit here thinking about what I want to say to you, I am overwhelmed by all the thoughts that are flooding my mind and simultaneously at a loss for words to adequately express what I am feeling. ![]()
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