Life on Life

"A painter estimates a job-for example, eight hours and two gallons for four walls.  He starts at sunup, but when the days over and the paint's gone, the job's done.  Ministry is like painting a wall that never ends, with an undetermined amount of paint(apparent resources), no time clock(24/7), and unknowns on the horizon."    From the book "Challenged:  Mission Trip Devotions and Journal"

Sometimes we long for "wall painting" type work.  Something with measurable results that looks really pretty, neat and clean at the end.  The truth is, most weeks we are asking ourselves "is what we are doing making ANY difference at all?" Believing that evaluation is necessary, how are we supposed to evaluate our work?

Maybe it's just in the small things.

This week during soul care time with the guys, the topic turned to ministry and marriage. One of our guys really struggles to communicate but his comment on the subject was very telling.  He said, "I want the kind of relationship like Pastor Rodger has.  He calls his wife many times when he's not home with her."  In that simple statement, he communicated to us that we are being "watched" and they are looking to us as models.  

The truth is, ministry is life and life is ministry.  These guys live with us.  They just don't see us at church on Sunday or in the classroom.  It's all out there for them to see and hear.  Is that humbling or what? It keeps us on our toes!  More importantly, on our knees.