This calligraphy was a gift from a college girlfriend. It does not balance on the board but I love that verse and read it every day. After all, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free.
One of the first challenges I faced in the ministry was a realization of where I lived. When I moved to small town Mississippi and began to visit and experience life among those families, I realized that as I went through my education I really lived in a small microcosm of life, and not life itself. I lived in High School Culture, College Culture, Seminary Culture, all with people my own age and general interests.
Finally I was in a town, and the values and culture of rural Mississippi made me begin to feel like a stranger in a strange land. There was much good about it, but for the first time in a long time, ie. 9 years I was with Christians for whom the church was a small part of life, not around Christians preparing for vocation for whom Christ was life. It seemed like many of my parishioners were just going through the motions. One of my professors had warned us that in our first pastorate the people would change us more than we would change the people. He was right. Hopeful, passionate young preacher wants to revive the church, and finds most people too busy living. I would learn to look for God using me in smaller ways, and eventually learn to love what is, while keeping an eye on what could be.
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