This may not be an overwhelmingly profound thought, but I just wanted to say today how privileged I feel to have the job I do. There are fewer things that bring me greater peace than the prospect of walking outside on a cold day - books, Bible, and computer in hand - to head out to the coffee shop to study for Sunday's message. I love walking in and smelling the coffee, ordering some hot tea (I gave up coffee back in March and haven't had a drop since - we'll see how long that lasts - ha, ha), listening to the background music, and opening my Bible to begin/continue praying about how God wants to encourage the people who will be at church on Sunday.
God's Word has such life - and it communicates such a good prospect on the future - and I get to share it with people every week. And in a world where most of the people who will be at church on Sunday will have been - for the last 7 days - criticized, hurt, ignored, forgotten, taken advantage of, given a bad report, kicked out of a relationship, experienced another failure, told their future was going to suck, it's a great privilege to be the guy who gets to tell people, every Sunday, that all that crap is not the final word in life. God's Word is the final word. He, who created the world and passionately looks upon each individual - with all that individual's hopes & hurts, fears & failures, dreams & disappointments, regrets & rage - with grace and love, has a blueprint for getting each person's life back on track. For encouraging and empowering them. For providing for and protecting them. And for helping and healing them.
Anyway, like I said, just my own reflections - nothing overtly profound. I'm just glad to have the role I do and want to express my gratitude to God.
