Day 141: Pastor/Janitor

This past weekend was one of ups and downs. It is a precarious thing being a pastor as you will find out. If you are a pastor already than chances are you can share many stories as well. I started off my weekend with a church cleaning day. Let me tell you now that if you plan on being a pastor and that is all...you are in the wrong field. You will be the pastor, janitor, plumber, etc. These are just the things a pastor has to do now and then in order to cut corners financially. After church service a couple weeks ago I noticed how horrible the church looked. The floor wasn't clean and probably has not been mopped for awhile. This is no fault of anyone's as we have a rotating schedule of volunteers to make sure the building stays clean. However, it was overlooked one week so I decided to do it. From top to bottom I vacuumed, swept, cleaned the bathrooms, and mopped. That day I came home and felt good about it all and told Tracy "it smells nice and clean in the church now!"

Well, that was short lived as I was told in few words that my cleaning job was shotty at best. You know...it is these kinds of things that really makes a pastor want to keep to himself. I was proud of the cleaning and that it smelt so nice but, it was a case in point that some people will always think they can do better.

This is the vicious cycle of a pastor. Absolutely there are great times and they are more times than not. However, being a pastor is one of the most thankless "jobs" around and so you have to celebrate your own victories. I jokingly tell Tracy (my wife) during pastor appreciation month, "you know? I think our pastor at Radiant Fellowship is pretty awesome! We should take him out to dinner and maybe Best Buy to get a gift." We jokingly go and do this.

Pastor, you will do things and hear things and have to deal with things that no one else knows about or needs to know about. Please understand that when someone takes the wind out of your sails after you are feeling good about something....stay encouraged! God sees what you are doing and yes, "your reward is in heaven" but, he will encourage you and bless you in ways that are pretty awesome here and now. Stay encouraged!!

This past weekend we had a guest speaker in at Radiant Fellowship. I know for a fact it was good for people to hear his message but it was great for me as well. This pastor spoke life into me...even during the message. I told Tracy that I could not remember the last time that life was spoken into me. I felt my batteries get recharged and got excited again. It wasn't a major message but one directed right at me none-the-less. I needed that after that weekend and God always comes through!