A Sunday in the life of a pastor…January 24, 2016.
Awake at 5:03am – no alarm – just time to be up.
Praying at our kitchen table for what the day could hold.
Read the YouVersion’s Bible plan – “Digging Deeper Daily.”
A see-you-later kiss with Jocelyn before heading out the door on a surprisingly mild January morning.
Pulling into an already filling parking lot ninety-five minutes before service time.
Handshakes, smiles and hugs with staff and volunteers.
Good-natured ribbing on my return from a two-week holiday.
High-fives with pre-schoolers in the foyer.
Pictures with a family of Patriot football fans decked out in the colors, hours before the AFC Championship game kick-off.
Prayer with our ministry team before taking the platform.
Acknowledgement and appreciation for dozens of volunteers from our Family Winter Carnival the day before.
Feeling proud of a pastor new on staff as he delivers his first message to very warm receptions in all three services.
Anointing and praying for a five year-old, diagnosed with a rare, terminal genetic disorder – GAN.
Putting an arm around a newly widowed wife’s shoulders and feeling humbled by her grief.
Introductions to happy first time guests – friends of North Pointers.
Meeting a newborn.
Signing up growth group participants for our Same Page Initiative.
Sympathizing with a wife as she shares about her husband’s attempted suicide.
Praying with a mom whose 35 week-old baby is still hospitalized since birth.
Viewing iPhone photos of a young couple’s brush with death a week earlier in a highway encounter with a moose.
Praying for our church family.
Thanking a new volunteer head usher in our 3rd service.
Collecting stats and drafting an agenda for our pastoral staff meeting on Tuesday.
Heading home for a cafe mocha and championship football.
Visiting a senior in palliative care whose attendants enthused that she perked up when hearing that her pastor and his wife were coming to see her.
Praying at the bedside of a mentor struggling through excruciating pain.
Texting with an out-of-town family celebrating their preemie baby’s first birthday.
Facetiming with a son, daughter-in-law and our one month-old grandson who reside one province east.
Blogging the story of a woman from North Pointe whose initiative to collect winter clothing for children has blessed the lives of inner city students.
An unfinished to-do-list that will wait for Monday.
Reading a few pages in a new novel before sleep at 11:10pm.
Grateful for a meaningful day as a pastor.
APPLICATION: Please leave a comment below. Thank you.
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Thank you for sharing, but reading about your day left me feeling exhausted. Praise God! Atleast you have His mighty strong reliable source of Power to draw on. I have been reading about celebrating the Sabbath with rest. I think Pastors, you in particular, might have difficulty doing that. I hope you rested (and had some fun too) on your well deserved vacation. I am grateful for all you do for all of us, but please rest, so you can continue to do all you do for all of us. I have heard of G.A.N. It is an extremely rare syndrome, with heart breaking outcomes, and I agree with you in prayer and faith in God’s Grace for a healing miracle for the five year old child you prayed for.
Work is enjoyable and some fun can feel like work. Thanks for your comment Shirley…just like a hug. Prayer changes things. Thanks for praying.
Sounds emotionally exhausting to me. I think I would have needed another 2-week vacation after a day like that. Bless you, Bob, and Jocelyn.
Wow, what a day. You are definitely God ordained pastor. I always loved the way you kneel down and pray. It humbled me.