The Report I Promised

This has to do with things I promised I would report on after my drive to Columbus Ohio and the Pastor’s conference.

Gasoline prices.
I paid $2.13 & $2.26. OK, I failed to find $1.99 anywhere. Bad weekend. But believe me, the price of Gas is plus or minus 20% of $2 for the next few years. That’s called a trading range. We’re in it for a long time. No breakout in sight.

The Pastor’s conference.
This was the 4th time I have attended this conference with these people. Attendance was lighter than I expected. There has been some attrition. I don’t know if that means much. It’s not unusual to have some retrenching after a strong growth curve. There are some Pastors I have come to know thru all this that I really appreciate. There are a few others who I steer clear of.

The fact is, I have seen the soft underbelly of the Church for 30 years. I have been fortunate/unfortunate to have very personal relationships with several Pastors. I am always astounded by God’s sense of humor in the kind of people he chooses to do his work. I’m more astounded that it gets done.

Some of the best Pastors and leaders I know have been thru hell in their personal lives. Terminal diseases, Terminal marriages, rebellious kids, Church failures, personal failures. I came to know Jim Bakker personally. He is a sterling representation of the kind of failure and renewal God can use.

This doesn’t make any of them less of a man of God. It does make them real. It does soften them for the pain of others.

God has a wonderful way of taking our agenda’s and crushing us. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t plan or have dreams. We should. We just need to be aware as it says in the book of James: don’t say tomorrow we will go to this city and do that business, rather say, if it be God’s will we will do this or that. (Gene Redlin Paraphrase).

So, even with all the failure, stupidity, egos, pretense, phony baloney, God is still God. And, he wants us to be real with one another.

I love the Church, I love the Body of Christ, I’m frustrated by both, often. But, if Jesus died for her, I have no vote. That’s good enough for me. I’ll do my best to be part of her, to encourage her, to build her, to support her, to lead her.

Anything less is less than God’s best. I’m proud to be among them, failures and all.