Rolling Paths and Pudding in your Face

Yes! I get to write you all again while music plays! Current track is "20 Years" by The Civil Wars.  Ok let's get this going.

Last time I wrote to you all I was in a good place even if the post did not exactly read that way.  You see some more things have become apparent to me.  First off I have a deep desire to walk this path as a leader even though this path is not the desired path of faith.  I do not do this hesitantly just cautiously.  Understand?  Cool.  So let me explain myself a bit by giving you an outline of my recent tales.

This week the church has hosted VBS in the mornings and ESL in the evenings.  For me this means coming to work at about 8 am to set up for the 20 or so kids that will be arriving at 9:30.  I play guitar for the singing portion of VBS which is always fun because we do take requests (practice has been consistent).  Then at about 10:20 we take the kids outside to play games.  Now this is where job descriptions fail.  I do not remember discussing the possibility or theological implications of a child throwing pudding in my face.  Needless to say it happened and I loved it (yet to find a picture of this though....sad).  We then have a craft and snack which needs to be monitored.  The boys like to be loud and boisterous (sounds a lot like me when I was little).  To keep the peace we talk about Star Wars and baseball between activities.  We end the day with the kids with a few more songs and a recital of the day's memory verse.  It is 1 pm by the time I have fulfilled my responsibilities and can begin to focus on ESL.  I usually eat lunch, take some time to reflect on the day or conversations I have had, and then make sure the night's lesson is ready.  Today was particularly good though.  I made another discovery as to what a pastor is.  A pastor is an evangelist.

You see today I ran into a pamphlet for Arab World Ministries on one of the tables in the church today.  It has a petition for more missionaries to work for their ministries.  Maybe I just really miss Israel and the Middle East in general a lot, because I spent a good hour of my day checking out the opportunities this and other ministries had in the region.  I even looked up the price of an Arabic language learning program.  Then I was reminded of the work I already have here in Waltham.  There are 20 some kids who are learning what it means to serve rather than be served.  There are kids who have more time before them than I do.  These kids have opportunities before them I did not.  These kids are the future of the Church.  I get to be a small part of that.  Then there are 6 immigrant students in my ESL class.  They have opportunities here in this country they wouldn't have had back in their home country.  Teaching them English is a way in which more of those opportunities become available to them.  Maybe they have not been to college and desire to go?  Maybe they will raise a family and within a generation or so they will have an English professor for a child or grandchild?  Maybe one of these kids or students will come to know Christ?  That's enough to make me concentrate on the here and now.  I want people to know Christ.  I want to call people brother and sister.  I am content, but not passive.

Pastors are evangelists to the extent by which they live their faith in their community.  A pastor who knows his community ought to be known by his community, because he is involved in the community.  A pastor ought to encourage evangelism in the Church by evangelizing himself.

I may not make it to the Middle east as a long term missionary, but that does not mean I will not be evangelizing.

Blessings in your active contentment!