All In A Day's Work

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: whatever you think a pastor's job is, it is never boring.

Example: I'm cozily nestled in my home office reading the book of Exodus (doesn't sound exciting, but it is). I am starting a new sermon series next week on Exodus. Whenever I start a new book series, I start by reading through the book in several different translations. Then, I start to divide up the book, according to the passages I want to preach on. Finally, I schedule it out - With Exodus, I'm thinking it will be over a 4 mth. period.

Anyways, I just finish reading about the hardening of Pharoah's heart when my phone rings. A guy from our church was walking his dogs last night, had a massive heart attack and died. Well, he's on life support with no brain acitivity.

I head down to the hospital and enter one of the most surreal episodes of my ministry career. I spend some time with the wife and step-son, praying and just being there with them. The wife and I go into his room in ICU and pray together.

The doctor enters and tells us that he is basically dead. The family can choose to keep him on life support and his "life" would basically consist of lying in the hospital hooked up to machines that breathe for him. Or, we can let him pass. Its agreed that the best thing is to allow him to move on. (By the way - this doc. was fantastic - just laid out the facts in a very sensitive way - I don't know if these medical people ever get used to this part of their job.)

After the wife and step-son say their good-byes, we head out into the sunshine and contemplate the next move. Now, we're planning a service and arranging for the body to be moved.

Tough scene - all I could do was reassure the family that what we were doing was the best thing for him.

Just another day on the job.

In other news.... I joined a running club! A local running store has these running clinics every Tuesday night. I thought it would be a great way to meet new people. I was stunned to see 130 runners there! My group was the 9:30 group, meaning we can run a mile in 9 minutes and 30 seconds. As we headed out, I noticed my group was almost entirely female - there was 20 of us, and only like 3 guys. I chatted with a few people and they all seemed really nice. One lady in my group was 67, which didn't really boost my self esteem very much. I told her I was a pastor, and she told me she hadn't been to church since she was married 40 years ago!

Anyways, it was a day of ups and downs.