Most ministers I know, if they are brutally honest, will tell you that they are frequently haunted by the question, “Why don’t you just quit?”

Serving the Lord as a preacher comes with a unique set of struggles. There are the personal struggles. Trying to live a life worthy of our calling is difficult. I know people look up to me and there is continual pressure not to fall. There are the spiritual struggles with sin that try to trip me up on my walk with the Lord. Temptation is around every corner and waiting to pounce. That temptation might be in the form of sexual sin or anger or pride or even the idolatry of ministry success. There are the professional struggles that come with the ministry. I know that every word I say and write will come under analysis. People will check my Biblical accuracy, my historical knowledge, my personal devotion, and my attitude while hoping to be challenged and entertained. On top of everything else are added the family struggles and financial struggles that all of us face.

Each week comes with its own set of questions and criticisms that can drain the joy out of life and leave me feeling alone. Many of us who are called to preach dream about the possibility of leaving the ministry for something less stressful.

So why do I continue to do it?

1. I am deeply committed to Jesus. I am not saying this to sound arrogant. I chose ministry because I am 100% convinced that Jesus came, lived, died and was resurrected. He is God in the flesh and will be the final judge of all people. I will answer for my life to him and him alone. To choose to do any less than serve him is the biggest mistake anyone can make.

2. I believe God has gifted me. I don’t know why he did it, but I believe God gave me a gift. I see things differently than other people. I think differently. That gift allows me to put together ideas in a way that makes sense to people. If God entrusted me with a gift, how can I not use it for his glory?

3. I understand that ministry is about service. Jesus told his closest followers that he did not come to be served but to serve. Jesus could have taken his place on a throne and sit back while humanity struggled. Instead, he gave of himself, even to the point of death on a cross. To follow him is to choose a life of sacrificial service.

4. I never know what God will do through me. I have spent year after year hitting my head against the wall of ministry thinking I am wasting my time. Then it happens. One person gets it. They make Jesus their Savior. They change their life. They are transformed in a way that is both dramatic and surprising. I stand in awe of the fact that God allowed me to speak into the life of that person in some way.

Honestly, even if you did not choose to be a preacher, I know all of us face the temptation to quit. The temptation to give up on this Christianity thing and go an easier path. Let’s face it; it sure looks like those outside of Christ are having more fun with less stress.

But each one of us must come back to the elemental truths we believe about Jesus. Do you really believe in the story of the Bible? Do you really believe one day we will stand before an eternal judge? Do you think that it is possible that God might have gifted you? Do you actually believe that God might use you to further his kingdom on earth? If you believe those things, the question is not “Why don’t I quit” but rather “How could I do anything else?”

“Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young,” commonly known by the title “Wear Sunscreen,” is an essay written as a hypothetical commencement speech by columnist Mary Schmich, originally published in June 1997 in the Chicago Tribune. The material is often erroneously described as a commencement speech given by author Kurt Vonnegut at MIT. Later on, this written piece became the basis for a successful spoken word song released in 1999 by Baz Luhrmann, “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen),” also known as “The Sunscreen Song.” That is where I first heard it and became interested in its content. I hope you have heard it, but if not you can look it up on YouTube.

The article gives various pieces of advice on how to live a happier life and avoid the common frustrations of adulthood. There is one part of it that has stuck with me since the moment I first heard it; I mean besides the advice to wear sunscreen. Ms. Schmich writes these words that Baz sings –

Don’t worry about the future
or worry
But know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum
The real troubles in your life are apt to be things
That never crossed your worried mind
The kind that blindsides you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday

These words have come to my mind again as I thought about my speech to a group of high school seniors. Then they were underlined and highlighted by a few recent events like the death of a man in a crash and a young man being diagnosed with cancer. I even watched my son break his thumb while making a routine out in baseball. His summer plans completely changed in a moment, and we never saw it coming. None of us are entirely sure what is going to happen next and how to be prepared for it.

There are two simple thoughts I cling to each day.

1. My faith has prepared me for life’s darkest moments. Faith is about trusting God at all times, but it is especially comforting when things go wrong. I am confident that God is in charge. I know that he will bring good out of any situation. If nothing else, I have the hope of heaven that shines a light at the end of the tunnel.

2. Most of life is about how we react to situations. While I cannot control all the situations that come at me, I can control my reactions to them. I can have faith. I can see the good in things. I can offer hope and love. I can make God’s kingdom present in my life and through my life by choosing to react in Godly ways.

Today is just another Tuesday. I have no idea what will happen to the people I love this day or to me. Maybe nothing or maybe anything. Mentally I am trusting God today no matter what happens. He is present in my life, and I am willing to let him use me. I am not worried about what happens today.

Quite often this simple action helps things work better. I can’t say that I completely understand it, but when my phone, computer, and TV start doing abnormal things I just shut them off and start them back up, and it fixes the problem. This does not always work, but frequently it does. Most electronics need a reboot to help them reset so that they can function better.

While I am not an electronic device, I still have this supercomputer in my head. A little while back I decided it was time for a reboot. So 13 days ago I unplugged from work and electronics and went on vacation. I had originally planned to continue blogging but decided to take a break from this too. I spent the last two weeks fishing, relaxing, traveling, and enjoying time with my family. I completely unplugged from ministry and my regular routine.

If you don’t know me personally or know me very well let me give you a quick backstory of my life. The past 6-7 months have been particularly draining. There was the holiday season, the loss of my father, taking care of my mother, having another senior in the house for the second year in a row, the Easter season and the growth of our Church by at least 25 people. It has been a season of ups and downs emotionally and professionally. As a result, I finally reached the point of being angry or distracted all the time. It was time to shut down.

Today I am back. I feel refreshed and ready to make the next 6-month run.

With that said, let me share three thoughts.

1. Thank You. Thank you to everyone who covered all my ministry responsibilities the past two weeks. Thanks to Andy Storms for preaching. Thanks to Hannah and Rory for putting worship together. Thanks to my staff for getting everything done. Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers.

2. I Missed You. While it is great to have a break sometimes, I still miss my Church family. I appreciate the people who read what I write and listen to what I preach. I miss the conversations and the joy of being together.

3. You Needed This Too. Your spiritual life should never depend on one teacher. You need to hear a multitude of voices. There is a fine line between gathering for the speaker and coming together to worship God. I never want to stand the way of your faith in Christ alone. A break gives you a chance to assess your faith and grow in a new way. This break was healthy for both of us.

As of today, I will be back to my normal speaking and writing schedule until the fall. Thanks for staying with me through this much-needed break and may God bless us all into the future.

We are starting the vacation season in the United States especially here in the Midwest. For the next two months, the attendance at our Church will be down each week. Honestly, I am okay with it. In fact, I take a vacation myself.

While you are on vacation this summer, I want to encourage you with thought.

Please keep worship as a priority.

1. Attend Worship at Any Church You Are Near. My family and I love to visit new Churches, especially larger ones. We get to relax and worship without any pressure to perform. We are not there to serve, but to draw close to the Lord.

2. View a Worship Service Online. Many Churches have online campuses where they put on a worship program for people. These are perfect in many ways for vacation times. You can sit back in your pajamas and still hear worship music and a sermon. One Church I have watched even pauses for you to take communion as a family.

3. Have a Family Worship Time. This can be a fun experience. Let one of you family members lead each part of your time. One can pray. One can read scripture. One of you can play your favorite Christian song. I believe it will bring you closer to God and closer to each other.

4. Have Your Own Quiet Time. Once I was on a trip to Canada, and I woke up earlier than everyone and just walked around outside until I found a quiet place. There I prayed, sang a song and then read a passage of scripture. Surprisingly God spoke to me in a deep and profound way there all alone on that morning.

I hope you have a wonderful summer. I hope you get a chance to rest. I hope you have fun. I hope you reconnect with your spouse and with your family. I pray 2017 is a summer you never forget.

I also hope and pray you keep Christ at the center of your life. I hope he rules over every season of your life, even vacation season.

I have been a preacher a long time. In all my years of ministry, I have encountered thousands upon thousands of people. I have spent time with people who completely embrace all that I believe, and I have talked with those who totally reject my beliefs. My contact with people has sometimes surprised me, but usually, I have noticed similar patterns that keep reappearing.

Here is what I think is really going on in most people’s lives.

I think you are worried. You are anxious about the future. You worry about your finances, your job, your parenting, your future and the future of the world. I think that at night you lie awake replaying every day and hope tomorrow will be better.

I think you are scared. You are afraid of what people think about you. You are afraid your marriage is a charade. You fear that something will happen to someone you love. You have insurance on everything, but your insecurity has never been higher.

I think you are lonely. You desperately want to connect with people on a deep level. You want to share your heart with someone and know they will care while loving you completely. You are present on social media yet feel alone. You may even be surrounded by people, but you never let your guard down. When you do start to connect with someone you try to undermine what you feel so you do not get hurt.

I think you are hurting. Someone has hurt you. Something has hurt you. The scars on your soul are open and still festering, but you never talk about it to anyone. When you are alone, you cry and can’t seem to tell other people what you are feeling. You might even drink to dull the pain, but the next day you feel the same way. You think no one knows or will understand.

I think you feel guilt and regret. When you have quiet moments, you do not feel the goodness of love and beauty. You replay your failures. Your mistakes haunt your mind and will not let you rest. You want to confess your sins to someone, but you are afraid it will destroy your relationships. Every year it gets worse, and you do not know what to do about it.

I think you are worried that you are the only one who feels this way. You look at the world and believe most of the people you know have it all together. Their marriage is perfect, and their children have no flaws. Surely, they must be happy and have a level of peace you do not know. You think their lives are wonderful with no struggles and you are alone on this island inside your mind.

I am here to let you know simply we all struggle with the same things. None of us have the peace and clarity we want in our lives. You are not alone. All of us are a mess. If we claim we are not that way it is because we are insecure about telling the truth.

Jesus did not come to save those who were perfect from making future mistakes. He came to take us who are full of flaws and give us a better future. He did the same for all of us. I think you need to stop trying to fool yourself and embrace yourself as a person in need of grace and mercy. Just like the rest of us.

Here is an interesting thought for today.

Here are some of the good articles and posts I read this week. Interestingly enough, several of them are about Pastors. I hope you enjoy them and are encouraged by them.

What to Say When Your Child Tells You “I’m Not Sure I Want to Be a Christian Anymore”

The Internal Battles of Even the Best Pastors

5 Simple Statements Any Small Church Pastor Would Love To Hear

10 Reasons Anger is Often a Problem for Pastors – I have known several angry pastors through the years and found this insightful.

The Uncomfortable Subject Jesus Addressed More than Anyone Else – Short but interesting article about Hell.

“Keep Yourself at 17 Inches” – Great sports analogy

The words hung in the air like the smell of sour milk in the kitchen. She said, “I know what I should do, I just do feel like doing it right now.”

How do you respond to that?

Let me encourage you with one little thought today. Do the right thing no matter how you feel about it.

Do the right thing for your spouse … no matter how you feel about them or yourself.

Do the right thing for your parents … no matter how you feel about them.

Do the right thing for your children … no matter how you feel about them right now.

Do the right thing for your neighbor … no matter how they have upset you.

Do the right thing for that person … no matter how you feel about their decisions.

You may hesitate, and it may not come naturally. Your palms may sweat, and your voice gets shaky. Your stomach may go into all out revolt. It will be okay, I promise.

Smile. Say hello. Ask how they are doing. Hug. Tell them you love them. Hold their hand. Speak kindly. Forgive. Offer grace. Send an email or text and say something nice. Go out of your way to do something helpful. Be friendly. Invest your energy in someone else. Don’t withhold your kindness to other people, especially those closest to you, just because you don’t feel like it now.

Your feelings will change. Tomorrow will look different. You will never regret doing the right thing. You will, however, regret waiting to act until it is too late.

Today is your day. Doing the right thing is within your power.

One of the primary goals of the Church is to produce disciples of Jesus. It is not enough to merely preach the gospel and see people come to faith. The bigger goal is for people to grow in their faith until they are living like Jesus.

Two of the biggest elements of this project are …

1. Bible Teaching. A follower of Jesus sees the Bible as the word of God spoken to them. You read the stories and seek to understand all that it says. As a result, we read, and we study until we know more than just a few children’s stories.

2. Practical Application. What does this mean to our lives today? What does the message of the Bible look like if it were lived out today? How do we do what the Bible is teaching us? These are all very practical questions that can have various answers. For example, the Bible teaches that husbands are to love their wives like Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her. I believe this is a fundamental teaching about marriage. But the practical application can range from a weekly date night to taking out the garbage and doing the dishes.

It is important for each one of us to understand these two different principles.

First, you need to understand the information you are receiving clearly. A Bible study might be a group that studies the message of the Bible with very little application. This blog is very practical with little Bible teaching. A sermon might be a combination of both Bible and implementation.

Second, much of what is considered practical application can adjust for each person. What works in your marriage might not work in mine and vice versa. Sometimes you might need to try several possibilities before landing on the best plan for you.

Third, Bible teaching is timeless, but the application is ever-changing. Applying a passage today might look very different from what it did 100 years ago because of the internet. We as believers and as a Church need to continually be evaluating our practices to make sure we continue growing over a lifetime.

If we teach the Bible without application, we might only produce mentally strong Christians. If we try to live for Jesus without knowledge of the Bible, we can easily slip into pop psychology instead of eternal truth. When we combine both, we prepare the way for years of growth in Christ.

I am not a clinical psychologist, but I am still convinced that everyone is born with a desire for attention. We want people to connect with us so that we can feel important and have a sense of belonging. We want people to notice and care about us.

The best way to receive this attention is in a positive manner. Be the best you can be at something and people will notice you. This can range from singing to art to athletics to even being smart.

If we are not getting the attention we desire in a positive way, then we resort to negative attention. People will do some destructive behavior in an effort to get people to notice them. This can range from a child throwing a tantrum to a teenager who gets into trouble at school.

What happens when these children who grow up seeking attention in a negative way become adults? More importantly for me, what happens when these adults come to Church?

Here are some of the ways I have noticed people seeking attention from the Church –

1. Something is Always Wrong.
They are always complaining about something. The music is too loud, or the preacher is too quiet. The seats are too soft or too hard. They just never seem to be happy. When you see them coming toward you, you brace yourself for their next complaint. They feed off the attention they receive from everyone trying to make them happy.

2. There is Always Drama.
This person is the king or queen of prayer request time. They are always hurting or sick or struggling to make it somehow. If it is not them, then it is someone in their family or close circle of friends. They are driven to get attention from people asking how they are doing. They always have a difficult tale that generates sympathy.

3. Things Must Be Done Their Way.
They come to Church and want to be in charge. They are usually convinced they have the gift of leadership. They want everyone to listen to them as the voice of wisdom. They strive to get the attention of the weakest members of the group because it makes them feel important. Often their influence also comes from a position of power or financial success.

4. Everything Cries for Attention.
Through the years, I have been interested in who raises their hand during worship. I notice who wants to be on stage or up front all the time. I see who always wants to be the greeter every week. No matter what the situation they seem to be able to turn the spotlight toward themselves. They feed on being seen by people in a positive way.

Have you seen these people in Church? They have been present in every setting in which I have ever pastored. As a fellow believer, I try to show them love and concern without going overboard. Quite often these people use up all their attention-grabbing tricks and then move on to another congregation. They especially love smaller churches where they can get attention in large quantity from a small group.

So the next time you encounter something at Church, ask yourself, “Is this person merely trying to get attention?” All of us have our flaws, believe me, ALL of us do. This is just another one of them that I hear very few people talk about. I want to be a part of a group of individuals where positive attention is given for the building up of all believers.