So, what does a young, handsome, successful pastor do with his Sunday night? I don't know either but I can tell you about my night. There were guests at the house tonight so we did some visiting. Then, one of my favorite characters of fiction was on a television movie. Jesse Stone is the fictional police chief of a small town in New England. I enjoyed sitting back and taking in his latest escapades. There is nothing like following along in a good mystery story. Getting lost with familiar characters is a great way to close out the day.

I'd like to think it was a good day. Sometimes it is very difficult from my perspective to tell how a day goes. You can be assured of one promise. No one wants you to have a good day of worship as much as me. Trust me, if the sermon stinks it bothers me more than anyone. When there are glitches along the day then it keeps me up trying to find a way around them. You may think that ministers are content with mediocrity. You would be wrong in that assumption. A healthy minister does indeed give himself primarily to God. But a healthy minister is also not naive about the effect of the ministry on others.

We live with the constant critique of both members and observers. We know what it is like not to measure up the the gifted orator at the big church on television. We hear the whispers about our preaching. We also understand what it is like if our bedside manner is not quite the same as the kindhearted pastor of the past. We know what it is to sit alone in the quiet when well intentioned words leave us wounded by comparisons. We live with the tension of not being able to admit to our hurts while dying bit by bit on the inside. We cannot tell you how we feel. We get the fact that we are to be beyond human in our perfection. We won't ever complain publicly but you can rest assured we are at the best very much human.

None of the above is meant as whining because there are wonderful moments in ministry too. You can't beat today when a two year old boy escaped from Dad to join his sister in Children's Church. The look on his face was priceless as he smiled back at me. He was so proud of his making a run for the door. He did not appreciate being left behind the last time she went without him. It was not happening again. He was still quite proud of himself when I stopped by this afternoon for his sister's birthday party. I was still smiling.

These are the moments that put the more negative issues into perspective. We see churches on television where all goes perfectly. You would think there are no bloopers or outtakes in the programming. Sigh, that is so opposite of my experience. My experience is that we live with fugitive toddlers on the run. We get through services that just sometimes seem off key. Sometimes our sound system screams for one reason or another. Life just tends to happen in church. That's more than ok to me as long as we stay open to God. He can say more in our bloopers than we can imagine. That is why the minister regroups after a stressful Sunday to do it all over again next week. We aren't the performer here. God is the one who we want to be most active in your life. We just want you to know we give our best. The rest is between you and Him.

Bro. Trey