Jesus is not my personal assistant

I meet Christians all the time who are convinced that the Lord holds parking spaces and green lights for his loved ones, that he spends all His time personally protecting us and arranging just the right appointments.

I am not convinced that it works that way, but here is what I want to share that I learned in those first four years of ministry. In some mysterious way, your strengths and weaknesses get tested by the circumstances of your life. Certain personalites will challenge you and some tests you will flee or fail, only to find a similar challenge somewhere else dealing with the same issues.

Byron Katie has a self help book with a name and message I appreciate. "Loving what is". My first ministry would have succeeded longer and my life would have changed in many ways if I had learned to accept what I was working with instead of falling into a dreadful trap of despondence which was triggered by the following lament. "Is this all there is to the ministry????" I wish I could go back and talk to that semi disillusioned young man and tell him to calm down and relax, to not take personal criticism as the end all of effective ministry. The anvil was fashioning me, and the pain caused me to jump off the altar.