Experts

“Then arrogant people will be brought down, and high and mighty people will be humbled. On that day Yahweh alone will be honored.” Isaiah 2:18

It pains me to say it, but God is not looking for experts. The experts who disturb me the most are people who know exactly how to raise children. Oh, not any sort of child-rearing expert; I mean the ones who have not had children yet, themselves. I was one of them. I had it figured out long before our first beautiful boy was born.

Fortunately, he was a fairly complaint son. I couldn’t get enough of his cuddly personality, his desire to please and sensitive heart God had given him. But, three and a half years later, our next son was born. Jonathan was just as much a miracle as his older brother Michael, but they were in no way the same.

Where Mike could take admonition with a mere whisper, Jon needed something stronger. I could give Michael a single look, and he might begin to tear up. With Jonathan, I had to get down on my knees and say and say, “Jon, I am serious!” It wasn’t that he was rebellious, he was playful. Everything was a joke to him, even my attempts at discipline.

By the time they were 13 and 10 I knew that everything I thought I knew about childrearing could be tossed out the window. Combine that with my own emotional quirks and I knew I was no expert at all. And, if I wasn’t altogether convinced about my amateur status as a parent, God pulled a fast one on Patti and me.

Ten years after Jonathan was born Patti informed me we were expecting. We had lived the last ten years with the greatest joy possible. We had two sons we loved dearly, we were happy with this little family, and we were making fairly strong attempts to keep our family the size it was. It took me a few moments to realize my wife was serious and that, in another 30 weeks or so, we would add a third child. And, to make me fully aware I had little knowledge about raising children, God sent us a girl.

Sarah was adored from the moment she was born. Her brothers took her up and down our street in her stroller. At 13 year old, Mike discovered the girls his age were attracted to babies. He didn’t mind at all that baby Sarah was a chick magnet. Jonathan teased his little sister constantly. In her young mind, I think she probably saw it as torture.

Sure, I have some wisdom to share after raising my kids. And, I am incredibly grateful to God’s mercy that more than made up the difference in my failures. Given to high levels of anxiety, I was not at many of their birthdays. Given my strong desire to succeed, I worked very late, past the two boys’ birthdays when they were very young. And, with all of them on their own now (well, Sarah…just barely) I am learning a brand new set of tools. Being a dad to adult children is entirely different than when they are young and in your home.

I started these thoughts, not to reminisce about my kids, although it is one of my favorite things to do, but to point out that, as good as they turned out, I am not an expert. A good friend of mine has a dozen kids. If you want to talk to someone about keeping order in the home, ask Steve, not me! I have a family in my church with nine children, but they are combined. His children, her children, their children. Don’t ask me about raising children as a step-parent, ask Wyatt and Kelsey!

But, I have been a licensed minister for over 30 years, pastoring for near 25 of those. Most of my churches and youth groups have shown significant growth. I have served on State committees for conventions and suicide prevention. You would think I knew what I was talking about if the subject of church-work came up. The truth is, there were people ministering to churches with over 1,000 in their services at the same time I was a youth pastor of 90. Now I serve a small rural church with about 50 in attendance on Sunday mornings.

I wish I could tell you how to grow a large church. But I’m afraid I’m not your guy. If we even were to reach 10 percent of our county, we would only have a congregation of three hundred or so. It’s hard to build a mega-church bordered by a river on one side and pastures on the other.

I’m not even sure I know how to pastor a rural church. I’m city boy at heart, always have been. I love theater, museums, and hearing people speak in other languages. I enjoy trying unique cuisine, sitting in coffee shops and listening to local talent sing and play. I love walking down a main thoroughfare and enjoying all the different nationalities, dress and sometimes weirdness that the big city offers.

But, all I have pastored are rural churches. I have no idea how to do it. I wrestle every day with what God expects of me. There are so many phone calls, so many concerts, so many “special events”, bbq, picnics, giveaways and calls to prayer you can offer. And, I try them because somewhere, at some other time, they worked for another rural church. A big picnic or giant blow up toys ought to work for mine. I’d give away gold fish if I thought they would live through the morning worship service.

God knows. He knows how to raise my children, He knows how to pastor this rural church. Our problem is that we want to be the experts. We want to raise our grandchildren because the kids just aren’t doing it right. We want to challenge our boss because we know better. I am short with my wife, dismissing her ideas because I’ve already thought it through. She should know that, right? And, if I’ve already thought it through, my idea should be pretty good.

What’s that? She might have thought her idea through too? Oh yes, I suppose that is right.

I think God laughs at all of us who want to be experts. Leave it alone and let God be the expert. He created you, He created your kids and He created their kids. He can work on your boss’s heart way better than you can. God has ways of working in His church that can make the most successful pastor blush and the least successful deeply grateful. I think it’s time to take a break from handing out advice.

I’m going to go have a cup of coffee and sit with the Creator of the Universe for a while. I would much rather be humble now before Him than be brought down “on that day Yahweh alone will be honored.”