Quotable and Keepable

Among the piles in my 'required reading' is a book called "The Art of Pastoring: Ministry Without All the Answers" by David Hansen.

In all honesty, I picked up the book because the title spoke to how I feel...
...that I will never have "all the answers" and if I ever ever thought that I did, I would be in serious... uh... trouble.

I'm barely into the book and I've got sticky tabs and underlines to remember things this guy says. He's real. He's raw. He's refreshingly honest in a Christian subculture that thinks a program or a "three step method" will fix or renew anything.

Life's just not that way.

It's messy. It's an ART, not a SCIENCE!

Yes. There are proven methods which will make a difference. But I've seen them more on the negative side of life, not the positive. (Temper, anyone?)

He talks about the need to "be a parable" -- to live out your love and relationship with Jesus. Not to be a sermon, but to be a walking example.

"Task-driven ministry always gives way to a time-management ministry as opposed to a Spirit-led ministry."
"...When I move from being a love of the soul to an expert about the soul, I objectify my own soul from myself. In the end my ego is warped; it goes on a rampage, climbing ladders to assert itself."
"Better to be a follower of Jesus and no expert at that, just a sinner saved by grace, called to love because I have been bought with a price. I may lose my standing as an expert, but I gain my soul." [page 20]

This I maybe can do.

Fix people's problems? Have enough wisdom to know how to respond to the raw heartache I see in people's eyes? Uh. No.
Leaning on God to be able to "do" what I need to do? Absolutely. I'm working on that one.
But trying to "walk out" the love that God has for me? Maybe.

I'm gonna try. Or keep trying. Trying to live like I believe...

Deb