My wife is missing… and I love it!
I’m sitting at home this evening with my mother and father-in-law contemplating America with Obama as President (all indicators point to him winning) and my wife is not even here. She’s been missing since about 4:30 (it’s now 9:00) and I couldn’t be happier.
Many people have written that the hardest job in the world is being a minister. And there is no question that it is far more difficult than anyone can imagine who isn’t one. I remember a story Bill Hybels told about an Army General who told Hybels that he was lucky his job didn’t involve decisions about people living and dying in battle. Hybel’s response was that he wished he were so lucky. Because people’s eternal destinies are on the line with our work… not just physical life and death, but eternal life and death. The weight of that responsibility along with trying to minister to people whose needs are always shifting is extremely difficult. HOWEVER… as hard as that is, I think being a minister’s wife is even harder. They are often assessed as the equal of the minister even though they are not the minister. Whatever they say is often taken as if the final word has been spoken when it is nothing more than an expressed opinion. It is a role I’m not sure that I could stand up under. Many ministerial marriages fall apart under the strain.
But tonight, the women in our church have taken Lesley and Michelle (Coach Bob’s wife) out to treat them to pedicures, manicures, and dinner out at a wonderful restaurant. I’m sure they don’t even know how important this is for these two. I am deeply grateful that this evening has passed without my wife… and I’m sure that the heart deposit being made into both Lesley and Michelle will have deep and lasting value.
Sometimes the best thing a church can do for their pastor during Pastor Appreciation Month is simply to love their pastor’s wife! Thank you to the ladies of Second Chance Church for doing just that tonight.






















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