A place to dump my unused thoughts

I suppose I created this thing to share what's on my mind with anyone willing to read it. I've been reading enough blogs over the last few months to know that its really hit or miss when it comes to various entries. Some things people write are down right pointless. Other things tend to be quite thought provoking. God only knows what my entries will amount to.

I have a sneaking suspicion that it's the same way with my preaching. For a while I never imagined that I would ever be standing behind a pulpit one day. Now for the past 2 1/2 years I've had the opportunity to deliver a message almost every Sunday (yes, even pastors go on vacation once in a while.) There have been countless Saturday nights when I've been scared to death about what might leave my mouth the next morning that would be passed off as a sermon. The strange thing is that no matter how I feel before a sermon, most of the time I feel pretty good after a sermon. I'm usually exhausted by mid-Sunday afternoon, but I'm often at peace at what I've said. That's because I've learned to trust the Holy Spirit. I can never tell how the Spirit will communicate with another person's spirit in cooperation with the message I've given. Its weird that the points I intend people to walk away with may not come up again, but something I don't remember emphasizing does.

Preaching (and pastoring) is one of the hardest things I've ever done. Right now I can't imagine doing anything else. Some times I can't believe that I'm getting paid to do what I love to do anyway, that is to read and study God's Word daily and to share the Scriptures with others who need to hear it too.

If anyone out there in blog land ends up reading this, I suppose I would want to encourage you to let your pastor know what spoke to you from his latest sermon (that's assuming you have one; maybe a topic for another entry.) Not that he (I) needs his ego rubbed, but its always nice to know that what you've spent the week preparing for others to chew on was actually digestible.