Expectations

The title pastor, like that of husband or wife, is a term that is pregnant with expectation.

People who under normal circumstances would say you are doing a fine job become suddenly more critical when you are attached with that title.  I'm thinking of the statistic that says living together before marriage makes your marriage more likely to fail.  You would think by practicing that you'd be ready, but it's not the case.  You just expect things from some one you call a husband or wife that you don't expect from some one you call boyfriend or girlfriend.

I stepped down from a position at a church yesterday to pursue an opportunity with a different church.  But leaving a church isn't like leaving a regular job, at least not with us Pentecostals.  People project their hopes and dreams onto you.  You're the one who's going to grow the church, to make things right, to bring their lost children and spouses home.  But you can't always do that.   I especially wasn't able to do that here, where I was given responsibility, but not allowed to make any real changes.  Things I know I could do I wasn't allowed to do, and yet still, every one saw me as the great hope for the church.

We cheat ourselves when we expect to accomplish great things, but then handicap ourselves by not allowing the Lord authority in our lives.  If we hold things back from Him, then we shouldn't be surprised when he doesn't use us to change the world.  We've got to come clean, put all our chips on the table and all our eggs in his basket.  Otherwise we're just being dishonest, we don't really want to be world-changers.  We want steady income and what measure of luxury we can afford.

And if there's one thing I can't stand it's dishonesty.  I'd prefer a straight fight to a bunch of sneaking around.  So let's gas up the car and go, because this is the year of hope.

And Hope does not disappoint.