Monday Morning Scattershooting

Monday Morning Scattershooting while wondering,  why they have a sign road saying 'Falling Rocks'. What exactly am I supposed to do with that information? They may as well have a sign saying "Random accidents ahead"

   A preacher friend once told me a lazy man can hide for a long time in ministry.  The older I get the more I see that to be true.  Ministry has totally different set of hours than any other profession.  There are times when you are so busy you can’t even eat and there will be those that accuse you of never working.  Other times you will have done nothing and people will pat you on the back for you efforts.  Unfortunately, the perception of how much you work is what people often look at, not at the real amount of work.  Some people think if your car is at the building when they drive by you are working, even if you are nowhere to be found.  

  The temptation comes to a minster to manipulate perception to make us different than what we really are.  We don’t get our work done when we have the time so we slump off responsibility at the last minute on others claiming I just have too much to do!  We say we need to "spend time with the family", but it is really time setting in front of the TV.  We are going to a meeting or conference on the church time and dime to help improve our efforts, but we are we ever going to darken the doors or are we just taking a vacation?  Does a preacher need help, family time and a vacation?  Of course!  But we need to honest about what we are doing.  We may convince the brethren and even ourselves but deep down I think if we are honest we can see the truth.  Integrity knows the difference between fatigue and laziness.

  I’m not sure what a congregation can do to keep out lazy ministers.  I've seen congregations with oppressive schedules that have ground hard working men to dust. Treating your minister like a factory worker that can't be trusted isn't the answer. I do know if you can’t trust a man to work when he says he will and keep up with his responsibilities, you probably shouldn't trust him with your pulpit or your young people.  There has to be some accountability.

  Preachers need to hold themselves accountable. The idea of a full day’s work is when you come in at ten leave at three and take a two hour lunch won’t cut it.  If you don’t put the time in your preaching suffers.  Don’t think a series of “Saturday night specials” are helping anyone.  If you are not available to the congregation, your ministry suffers. If no one can get ever find you, then they don’t really need you!  Laziness is as big of sin as the rest, don’t let it destroy you ministry!

   I saw a quote recently that said,

“The church is like a swimming pool. Most of the noise comes from the shallow end.”

  It got me to thinking about some of the “noise” I heard in my ministry. A lot did come from the shallow end. Most criticism is shallow. Personal attacks, uniformed opinion, people talking just to hear themselves talk. As John Kennedy said, “Too often we...enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought” I think this was a big element of what Jesus taught about judging. Our judgments need to be thought on before we take them. They need to be fair, focused and well deliberated on.  It’s not wrong to correct but we better be sure we are correct before we do it.

   Finally, Jim is in an interview, eventually the interviewer asks him "So, what would you say is your main weakness?" "Well" says Jim, "I guess I'd have to say 'honesty'". "Hmm" says the interviewer "You know, I don't think that's really a weakness" "Jim replies, “Well I honestly don't really care what a dumb oaf like you thinks"