Encouragement

"Timothy, I thank God for you […] Night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers [...] This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you."

- St. Paul, 2 Timothy 1:3,6 NLT

"‘Some of us get dipped in flat, some in satin, some in gloss…’ He turned to me [and said]... ‘But every once in a while you find someone who's iridescent, and when you do, nothing will ever compare.’"

- Wendelin Van Draanen, Flipped

2 Timothy was probably the last letter that the Apostle Paul ever wrote. As the Roman emperor, Nero, descended into madness… a madness accelerated by the great fire in Rome in A.D. 64, which historians believe Nero himself started… the old apostle sits in a cold Roman prison cell on the eve of his death, thinking about a young pastor in Ephesus named Timothy. Dismissing the imminent threat to his own life, Paul writes to encourage Timothy to energetically persevere in the Lord's work.

No one understood better than Paul the high demands and personal price that was paid by those called by God to pastor and to lead and to teach the Good News story of a Risen Jesus to an unsympathetic world. After 4 years of trying to lead and feed a church in Ephesus that Jesus described as "...You don't love me or each other as you did at first..." (Revelation 2:4), a discouraged young pastor gets a letter from an old warhorse apostle who says, "Timothy, I thank God for you… Night and day I constantly remember you..."  Wow! Can you imagine what that heart-felt encouragement did to Timothy's heart? It'd be like Mother Theresa or Billy Graham (ahhh… when they were alive of course… although… a heavenly email would be nice as well) sending me a personal email: "Harry, I'm thinking about you today… and about what you're going through." What a steroidal shot to the heart!

Like Paul, we all have pressing agendas, personal responsibilities, imminent deadlines, vital concerns that demand our immediate attention… and yet we live and move and have our being, without losing our minds, because of a Risen Jesus that we are confident is more than sufficient for us -- a faith in Jesus that is informed and strengthened by the pastors and teachers and leaders at CRB.

Sooo… hear me… as an old warhorse who knows both the honor and the rigors, the privilege and the pain, the boon and the burden shouldered by those who have been called by God to love us and to pray for us and to somehow creatively communicate to us a Real… and a Relevant… and a Compellingly Personal Christ who saves our lives each and every day -- "Encourage a young pastor today!"

Encourage them to take care of themselves! Remember when the prophet Elijah fell into a deep depression after a particularly exhausting season of ministry? (1Kings 17-19). What did the Angel say to the prophet…

"Elijah… you need to be more spiritual?"   NO!

"Elijah… you need to study the Bible more?"   NO!

"Elijah… you need to pray more?"   NO!

"Elijah… you need to be at church more?"   NO!

"Elijah… you need to be among the people more?"   NO!

The Angel said...Sleep and Eat!

"Get up and eat!” He (Elijah) looked around and there beside his head was some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water! So he ate and drank and lay down again.

- 1 Kings 19:5-6

Back in the Stone Age, when I was a young pastor, people would ask Candace, "Did you wake up grouchy this morning?" She'd say, "No, I let him sleep."

So, what am I saying? Hug a young pastor today! Metaphorically… prayerfully… thoughtfully… intentionally… literally.

Because, believe me… you are on their mind and heart in everything they do!

Pastor Harry

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