THERE IS A FRIEND

A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.  Proverbs 18:24

     Two of the hardest things I’ve discovered within the ministry were one, how hard it is to have close friends and two, how dangerous it is to have those close friends!  Over the years, I have struggled to have close friends and often that struggle led to heartbreak.  Then the inevitable happened.  I decided it was too dangerous to have close friends and I began an active wall-building campaign within my ministry that would hold people to a safe distance and ultimately (I thought) keep me and my family safe.

     Then came a very life-changing day.  One of my deacons accused me of spending too much time with one of the men in the church.  He intimated that we were fishing on church time!!  I was innocent of that accusation.  Now, I love fishing but I had not been fishing with this individual once.  After much time on my face with the Lord and maybe, even more time pacing the floor in agitation, I decided that I was going to call up this man and ask him to take me fishing.  You know, if I was going to be accused, I might as well be guilty!

     That man became one of my closest friends and we still look forward to spending time together fishing and just talking.  That deacon drove me to make one of the best decisions for ministry I ever made: have friends!!  After coming to the BSCLN, Pennie and I made a conscious effort to spend as much time with as many smaller-attendance church pastors as we possibly could.  This morning, we got to go kayaking with the wonderful pastor in Parrish, Florida, Pastor Joe Skidmore.

     This past Sunday, Pastor Joe preached one of the best sermons I’ve ever heard on prayer from 1st Timothy 2:1-8.  He had great points and I was truly blessed by his delivery of this encouraging sermon.  Pastor Joe is one of those pastors who stands at the door and greets people as they come in and then stands at the door to bless people as they leave.  His church of 50-60 people are probably not even aware of how blessed they are to have such a man serve their spiritual needs.

     I mentioned kayaking.  This is a form of boating I have almost no experience with yet, Pastor Joe asked these two visiting folks to spend a couple of hours with him.  What a blessing it was to kayak the mangrove backwaters and talk to a fellow pastor.  Thank you, Pastor Joe!  Pennie and I had a great time.

The one thing I’ve learned is that life and ministry are much more fun and fulfilling when they are shared.  Keep paddling!

I remain,