I quit

Actually I don’t but this is Sunday morning and generally the best time for pastors to quit. Since I didn’t do a big event this weekend I will survive but I can understand the sentiment. You work hard, you preach your heart out, you try to model the life and get next to nothing.

Sure Jesus Christ, you know God’s own son, did all that and ended up deserted on a cross, so I guess a bit of frustration isn’t really all that bad, but it is frustrating none the less.

Still I think it is important to keep to what God has said and to keep spirits high I thought I would try to come up with the top ten worse things that could happen and then pray they don’t.

• 10-I could still be in high school. Sure I loved high school, and I love working with teens, but the drama is off the charts and I’m glad I’m not still there.
• 9- I could be in (name of state I don’t want to live in). Hey where ever God has called you is great but if God wants me to go to certain places I expect very clear direction. On the other hand if God calls me to Hawaii I just need to not hear a “no.”
• 8- I could be the Senior Pastor. Not only does he get to deal with everything he is blamed for doing he also gets to deal with all the stuff I probably really did do. I don’t know how he does it and I’m glad I don’t have to.
• 7- I could be living in the 80s. I admit I love a couple of movies and the cartoons from the 80s but I’m glad they are over. Why are people trying to bring them back? If they bring the mullet back I’m moving to another country where mullets are illegal.
• 6- I could be married to Kate from John and Kate plus 8. Sure the 8 kids would be fun but I would drive that poor OCD woman so crazy that she would kill everyone in their sleep. That would make me feel bad.
• 5- I could be the Children’s Pastor. Sure it seems fine, yo don’t go crazy as quickly but in the end you have to go much more crazy. For Youth you reach the level of crazy where you know you are crazy but aren’t sure it is a bad thing with children you reach the level of crazy that you actually stop believing you are crazy. For any Children’s church pastor the fact that you just said “I’m not crazy” is proof that I’m right.
• 4- I could be on “What not to Wear.” That has to be incredibly insulting when you think about it. Sure you get $5k for clothes but they basically are telling you everyone secretly thinks you look like crap.
• 3- I could care more about money. This is why I’m not Senior Pastor material. I would forget to take up offerings. I don’t have lots of money and I’m happy. The only time I worry about money is if we have a need we can’t meet. Since God is faithful that really doesn’t happen to us no matter how little we have. I am a living testimony to why you should tithe.
• 2- I could take myself more seriously. Hey I know things are bad sometimes but I don’t really take it that seriously. I only really worry about one thing and that is people going to Hell. If I can do something to help them see the light then I’m happy all those “Christians” griping at me for being too extreme aren’t my problem.
• 1- The number one worse thing that could happen ………………… (that’s a drum roll) I could be a full time missionary. I love full time missionaries. I love missions. I also love snow buy I pray God doesn’t send me to some snow bound place. Missions, like snow, is great for a little while and then I can go back to my comfortable life here where my daily struggles rarely involve insects known to carry small children away.

Of course many people are happy that they aren’t the Youth Pastor and that is fine. We are all called to different things and we are given the desires f our heart, that is to say the desires we have in our heart have been given to us by God so that we would seek after those things. This is not to say that anything we desire is permissible because there is a big difference between the desire of our heart and other more physical desires.

Hey look I worked a sermon in. If you are in ministry and are considering turning in your resignation today I hope you laughed a little and remembered what God called you to. If you are not in ministry and wonder why your minister is so burned out on Monday morning, well know this, we pour ourselves out and that leaves us feeling a little empty, but God is always faithful to top us back off so we can do it again.