Pastor Mikes Garage August 25th, 2022
August 26, 2022
So here we are at the end of August! Yup summers over, fall is in the air,
the combines are rolling, soon the snow will be falling! Maybe it’s this
season, where the signs of the winter that is soon to be upon us, that
cause me to be more contemplative! This week pastor Dave has been away with
his dad attending a family funeral and my thoughts go towards my own
pattern of reflection and life evaluation that surrounds funerals. Am I the
person I want to be? Am I the person I’m supposed to be? Am I the father,
son, husband, friend, pastor I am called to be? Are the things I’m spending
my time, money and energy worthy of that cost? Am I conscious and
intentional of the direction my life is heading?
As most of you know my wife is a Coroner for the province of Saskatchewan
in this area. Because of that our household deals with death, in one form
or another, on almost a weekly basis. What used to be a rare occurrence has
almost become common place in that many of her calls are for men or women
who are younger than I am! When those come in it always gives me cause to
ponder the frailty, meaning and purpose of my own existence.
Lately, largely because of a book I’m reading that was recently recommended
to me called “Letters to the Church” by Francis Chan, I have also been
doing a lot of soul searching, both as a pastor and a Christian, as I look
at our church. Are we the church we want to be? Are we the church we are
supposed to be? Are we the church we are called to be? What are we called
to be? Are we offering as praise, worship and sacrifice to God what He even
desires? Are we the church our town needs us to be? How does the bible
describe what the church should look like? What are we spending the
majority of our time, money, and efforts on? Does that even line up with
what the bible calls the church to be in this world? If where we spend our
time, money, and energy reveals our greatest priorities, do those line up
with the priorities of God? To be blunt and honest, in my evaluation, I’m a
little nervous of what I am seeing!
I realize I have just spewed out a bunch of questions with no answers. I’m
not going to give you my thoughts or answers. I want you to take a long
look at your own life and our church. Do some praying and serious looking
at the bible and ask those same questions. I think that’s the point of a
gut check whether we are who we are supposed to be, or even if we are
actually even who we think we are. In order to live an intentional,
purposeful, fruitful life that’s on track, we need to be asking those hard
questions on a regular basis. But if that self-reflection and evaluation
reveals shortcomings or misdirection then it has to also lead to change,
even if that change is drastically uncomfortable, if we are ever to grow or
be obedient! I will leave you with some verses from James.
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For
if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who
looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and
goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into
the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who
forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” James 1:22-25
Pastor Mike