Saturday, September 27, 2008

Preach. Sleep.

In three minutes (give or take 10 minutes) I will go to sleep. I will lower my head on to the pillow and within minutes, I will be sound asleep. It will be an act of trust.

I've done it over 1,000 times. For 20 years about 50 Saturday nights a year, I've gone to sleep in full knowledge that should I wake up the next day, I will stand in front of a crowd of people and preach.

I will speak about God through Gods power on God's behalf.

I've never been nervous and I've never been scared of the crowd.

It is God that terrifies me.

He has given me a massive responsibility to speak for Him. I don't take that lightly.

I study all week. I pray all week. I pour over scripture, the work of other scholars, and study society itself. I think of the lives in the seats and needs in those lives. I think of my flock, my friends, my family. I craft a message that if I tried to explain how it comes to me, I simply could not express it in words.

I finished my message on Thursday night. I finished again on Friday afternoon. I carried it around with me today and read it over and over.

I think I have in my head what came from my heart.

I think...I'm not sure. I never am sure.

Yet I have to go to sleep...

And trust.

Tomorrow I preach. Tonight I sleep.

1 comment:

Amanda said...

I love hearing you speak! And it was good to see you at Scott's wedding several months ago!