Today my wife and son visited the ruins of a church in Ireland that dated mid 600AD. From what my wife could remember from her years of Latin she believes that a tombstone at the site was that of the Pastor and his wife.

Seeing that she began to question what it was like for them. What challenges did they face? I guess she feels a connection with them given our current positions as pastor and wife.

Now she has me thinking. Will we do this until we die or until Jesus comes back? Can we be obedient enough for Him to desire to use us for that amount of time? Can we keep the passion to serve and the compassion for the lost? Can we make it through the periods of physical, mental and emotional tiredness? Will we be able to maintain enough faith to stair in the face of adversity and still declare all things are possible? Can we overcome temptation (lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life)?

The part that I found very cool was that they are presumably buried at the church where they pastored. For us I don’t think the school would be to keen on that but this says some things to me. Maybe it was nothing like this but to me I see a couple who were able to say yes to the above questions.

Even though it would be neat to hear their story I don’t have to because most all stories that I hear from pastors include struggles, temptations, trials, victories, grace and deliverance. I know that ours does and now more than ever I want to be able to say yes to the above questions. I don’t care about being buried at a church but I do want to stand before God someday and as He looks over my record for Him to see these things.

So today I pray God lead me where you want me. Plant me, grow me, and prune me as necessary, so that I may produce good fruit for your kingdom all the days of my life.