From the time I was 5 years old until I graduated high school, I played some kind of sports and usually a few at once. One thing I didn’t have to do very often, but hated with a passion when I did, was sit the bench. I hated being in the dugout or on the sideline watching everyone else in the game. That always motivated me to work hard so that I was in the game instead of sitting the bench.
Admittedly, today was a little bit of a weird day. We stayed in the Comfort Suites in Valdosta with my parents and when my alarm went off, I hopped up, got in the shower, shaved and dressed for worship. Normally at this point I would begin going through my mental checklist of things to do: what are we talking about in Bible class, what am I preaching, who is sick, what do I need to tell the elders? But this morning it dawned on me, I’m done until time for Bible class. I don’t have anything to do except get everyone in the car and to the building in time for Bible class. It was weird, I will confess, but it was also AWESOME! Sorry if that was a little too enthusiastic, but it is the truth. I love preaching and I know I will miss it, truth is I already do a little, but as one of my favorite Jimmy Buffett songs goes, “I must confess, I could use some rest, I can’t run at this pace very long.”
For those of you reading this who have a preacher, I hope you understand that he has a tough job. He never really gets a day off, because at any given moment someone can die, get very sick, be in a terrible accident or have a family crisis and then it’s so long day off. It takes a lot of time to really study the Scriptures and prepare four lessons per week, in addition to any television, radio, bulletin, etc, work that the church is involved in. People call him everyday, and at all hours of the day, with everything from Bible questions, to family drama, to complaining, to help with a copy machine or how to get into the church building, you name it. He’s also got a wife and kids and everyone of us know how much time and attention a family requires. I’m not asking you to feel sorry for him, as one of my MSOP instructors used to say, “Nobody asked you to or made you do this, you chose it.” But I am asking you to cut him some slack when he has an off day, a boring sermon, or if he forgets something that you consider important. He does what he does because he loves God, he loves the Lord’s church and he loves you, and the people who can’t stand him too. He’s trying, but he’s human. Here’s a secret too, the better you treat him, the better job he will be able to do serving your congregation. I recently heard of a congregation that threw a thank you dinner for their preacher AND HIS FAMILY, and gave them $500, season passes to an amusement park, gift cards to restaurants and keys to a members cabin in the mountains and told him to take his family and disappear for a week and to turn off his phone. I know of another congregation that told their preacher that every three years they wanted him to take a one month sabbatical (this was in addition to the vacation or being gone time they regularly allowed him). Great ideas.
Today I got to do some things I haven’t gotten to do very often or in a long time. I got to sit through a Sunday school lesson, and listen to two sermons, and I got to sit right beside my wife through them all. Sitting the bench isn’t so bad after all.
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