verse4today: A good warning in today's reading from the One Year Bible: "Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light" (II Corinthians 11:14).
Posted on 2010-09-09 via Twitter
Just over twenty-nine years ago, I preached my second funeral as a pastor. The first was, as pastors like to say, "easy." I led a memorial service for an aged saint who died peacefully and quickly in the Lord. The second was a "tragedy" (the word we use for an untimely death), the funeral of a teenager who died in a snowmobile accident. It was during that memorial service I embraced my identity as a pastor-preacher. Up to that point I resented God's call upon my life to be a preacher. My dream was a career in baseball, most likely as a coach. But it was clear to me that the Lord had other plans. So, I heard and followed Christ's call to be a pastor, kicking and screaming along the way.
Early on, while still in seminary, I preached a sermon before my home church. Afterward, my mother, proud as a peacock, asked "Now, wasn't that better than hitting a home run!" to which I responded, "No." I still remember the look of disappointment on her face but, then again, clearly she had never hit a home run with a wood bat! A couple years later, after leading my second funeral service, I would answer that question differently. For it was then that I came to realize that there is no greater privilege than preaching the Gospel in the face of death. For me, anyway, it trumps hitting a home run.