Saturday, July 2, 2011

The Pastor's 10 Commandments

  1. Know your Bible better.
  2. Be a man of prayer.
  3. Don’t lose sight of Christ.
  4. Be deeply Trinitarian.
  5. Use your imagination.
  6. Speak much of sin and grace.
  7. Use the “plain style” - language that is clear.
  8. Find your own voice.
  9. Learn how to transition.
  10. Love your people.

Disappointment

Lord, I can almost taste the bitterness
of disappointment;
my shattered expectations and dreams
are like gravel in my mouth.
So help me—my strength fails.
Help me
to realize all that has happened,
to see, beyond the betrayal,
Your hand and Your love.
Through the failure of man
You move silently but surely,
even making human wrath
to praise you
and to being about my good.
Teach me
in this disappointment
to empty my mouth of grit
and to savor instead
the delicacies You have prepared for me.
That I may honor Christ,

Amen.

[from Institute for Nouthetic Studies Blog