Your Pastor

My friend’s Church in Kearneysville, West Virginia

What a marvelous time we had in Church last Sunday. During the sermon at that Sunday service, it was during a moment of deep passion that I stood before the Church and said that I had never felt less favor or been more lonely than when I became a pastor. Sure, I have family and friends who love me but it can still be a very lonely place for any number of reasons and if I talk about them too long I will burst into tears but I would’t change for anything in the world because it is a divine assignment. I can’t help it and I wouldn’t help it if I could. Therefore, was not shocked to hear Pastor Chuck Swindoll say the same thing in his podcast.  

Queen Esther must have felt the same loneliness even in that exalted position. While writing this through glassy eyes, my daughters dog must sense something because she came and stood with both paws on my leg.

Any good leader endeavoring to do what is right feels it. But neigher me, Queen Esther or any leader who has a passion for people, feels it.

Queen Esther’s Uncle, Mordecai told her:

“Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the Jews. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?”

And she replied:

“Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish.”

Oops! My dauhter’s dog just came to bring more comfort to me.

Anyway, Esther wouldn’t change it because it was a divine assignment. God had positioned her for such a time as this. What about you?

There is an old hymn that brings me comfort at this moment and I hope it brings you the same. It was one of my father’s favorite 

songs.  It says:

If I walk in the pathway of duty,

If I work til the close of the day,

I shall see the great king in all his beauty

When I’ve gone the last mile of the way.

When I’ve gone the last mile of the way, 

I shall rest at the close of day,

For I know there are joys that me,

When I’ve gone the last mile of the way.

If for Christ tI proclaim the glad story,

If I see for his sheep gone astray, 

I am sure he will show me in his glory,

When I’ve gone the last mile of the way.