Fish Bowl Cont.

To be completely honest with you, I don't know why I am titling this post Fish Bowl. I guess if I had to answer, I would answer along these lines. People are always watching fish inside their bowls. Watching every movement and everything that they do. The same for the ministers of the church. The main thing people watch for is a minister to mess up. So, they watch them as if they are watching fish in a fish bowl. Watching every movement, waiting for them to mess up. What I do know at this moment is I can not sleep. It is currently 4:46 am and I feel like I may stay awake for McDonald's to open up and get a warm breakfast.

If you haven't read any of 1 Timothy in the bible, I would suggest that you turn there and read the 3rd chapter before you continue. In the 3rd chapter we see that Paul writes to Timothy and points out how Overseers and Deacons should live their life. In that Paul points out many ways that they should live. All of which are very important. He mentions a lot but one that stuck out in my mind was the one in the middle. For some reason it scares me to think about verse 5: "If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?" At this present time I don't have a family, I do however have a beautiful Girlfriend. But reading through all of these descriptions, that is the one that stands out the most to me. What if I get down the line and start a youth ministry, but can't handle my own immediate family? A lot of "What if's". Then the last part of the chapter strikes my attention also. Verse 15: "...you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth."

Are we living our life this way? I don't think this text is just for the people inside the church (ministers/deacons). I think this text is for everyone, Christians. As Christians we need to be aware that we are in that fish bowl also. Non believers are watching our every move. Even when we are least expecting it. I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes of all time:

-"Witness all the time, when necessary use words"

Fish Bowl

Finally being able to see the end of college (well, kinda), I am still having that drive and passion to be a Minister of Youth. It is what I feel lead to do and I have no other motivation to do anything other than having an impact through Christ on the lives of youth. Recently I have been talking to my Pastor that preaches at my home church in Danville (First Baptist Church). I am really good friends with his sons from my high school days and like to go see them when I get the chance. I have had a lot of talks with him about a random array of things. Although they all are very important, one topic that we talked about stands out above the rest.

Last Thursday night while I was visiting them, I took the time to stay up stairs with Bro. Tim and fill him in with what was going on with the family. After that he asked me what I planned on doing after college. I told him I would love to go into the ministry and work with youth. Usually I will tell people that and I get the same reaction, "O, that's just great Jacob" or "You will make a great Youth Minister". Brother Tim took a different route, one that I am very grateful for. Instead of praising me, he went off of his own experience to give me helpful pointers. The first thing that Brother Tim mentioned was that of a ministers wife. Stating that whoever you plan on marrying, make sure that their heart is in the ministry also. That they will be with you through thick and thin and will love you no matter the circumstance. He told me to run away if it wasn't, that a key thing to a minister and his ministry is the one they are married to. The second thing that he mentioned was, to not give up when it gets rough. No matter how successful your ministry may be, there will always be rough days and sometimes years. He mentioned again, that is where your relationship with God and your better half come into play for support. He went on to tell me about a rough time in his ministry and how he was very close to giving in but didn't. The third and final big point that he pointed out to me was a statement that I will never forget: "watch out for the ones who meet you at the train." Saying those are the ones who will jump on the train, but they are the first to jump off and plot against you. After telling me stories after stories about that one statement, I just couldn't believe what I was hearing. I took a lot of the talk that we had, I mean there was an hour of straight fruitful talk that was awesome. I don't think Brother Tim was telling me this to scare me. He just wanted me to know of some things that is better for me to know about then getting my foot in the door and seeing them first hand without any prior knowledge. After soaking that in for the night, I got just couldn't get the stories out of my mind. Two things of the many that came to my mind was: 1-People looking for a PERFECT church. 2-How much politics play a role in church....in church (I said it). The first bad thing that happens in a church, people are ready to leave or they want the minister out. It is sad...

Although this is just a little that is on my mind that happened last Thursday, there is still more from today's sermon that has got me on edge and thinking a whole lot. I will write on it soon, but before then I will give a little sneak peak...1 Timothy 3...all I can think is "wow, is that me?"