Funeral on the Plains

Later on today I will be attending the funeral for a pastor who died serving Christ he loved among a flock he had loved and guided for two decades. His last days were not easy as he did hand to hand combat with that dreaded opponent cancer. He fought valiantly and honored his Lord and his flock to the very end.

Many thoughts tramp through my mind. I met this pastor early in my ministry here in Seminole. He was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of cancer only weeks after my arriving. One of the thoughts that linger with me is that my days are numbered just as his were. I am not guaranteed a long life. There are many days that I do not get around to do all I want to get done and I justify it by thinking that there is always tomorrow but this is not true. One day there will not be another tomorrow. The death dew will fall on my brow freezing my fingers and ideas that float in my mind. That means the many writing projects I continually put off must be put on the front burner and completed because the day is coming when it will be too late. There are also numerous books I want to read but do not always discipline myself to read them thinking I will get around to it one day. One day may never come. I am looking in my Bible at a passage I have highlighted in orange. It reads, “So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom.” [Ps 90:12] I must live and labor while I have the chance offering the Lord my best efforts.

As I contemplate this funeral later today I am struck by another thought. This pastor gave two decades of his life to one flock. That has long been my desire and I never dreamed there would be a day I would be packing my family and belongings and leaving the flock at FBC Paradise. I love them as I did when I was there but I know God called me to move and to have stayed with those I love so dearly would have been flat out rebellion on my part. So I find myself serving a new church, just getting to know a new flock having been here six months, and longing for God to give me that lengthy ministry. Charles Simeon ministered at his church for around six decades. Jonathan Edwards preached at Northampton for a little over twenty years. Charles Spurgeon stayed at the Metropolitan Tabernacle for thirty-eight years. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones was pastor at Westminster Chapel in London for thirty years and A.W. Tozer preached at The Southside Alliance Church in Chicago for more than three decades. The long desire of my heart has been to give myself to one congregation for the remainder of my ministry. I thought that would take place in Paradise but I was painfully wrong. Now I ask the Lord to plant our roots deep in West Texas. I grow weary of starting over. Many have told me I would not stay here long. They have said we would move on to bigger and better things. That certainly is not my desire. One person prophesied before I left Paradise that God would never let me stay in one place long. That sure is not the desire of my heart. But as always I have to lay myself on God’s altar and be willing to do what He calls me to do. [Rom 12:1] At the same time the true desire of my heart is to have a long ministry in one church. [Ps 37:4] I prayerfully and hopefully did not uproot Brenda and the boys for a short stop over. Many people do not want to live, minster, and pastor in West Texas. There is a lot of driving. I want to be willing to serve these people and this community for the long haul. Ultimately that is God’s call so I submit to Him.

One final thought about the funeral today. Though this brother in the Lord battled cancer there was every indication that he finished well. He continued to preach and to lead right up until the final couple of weeks when he was no longer physically able to do either. Many people start out well. Many pastors start out well and after a year or so are busy looking for a new place to serve or have been caught in Satan’s seductive lair of sin and sorrow. My heart has been broken of late of the number of ministers who started out well but who did not finish well. I want to finish strong in the Lord and in the ministry however long that will be. [Heb 12:1-3]

Funerals are a good time to stop and take stock of our own lives and bring that stark reminder that our lives on this earth are temporary and all of us are just passing through. I want to live and labor while I have the opportunity. I want to give my heart, life, gifts, and passions to one flock for a long ministry. I pray it will be here in Seminole. I also want to complete the course and finish my race with no blunders. I do not want give up and quit when the going gets tough or be enticed by the passing pleasures of sin to stray off the course and to abandon the race. These are my thoughts about the funeral I will be attending later today. What are yours?