March 31, 2025
Good morning,
For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. Ephesians 1:15-19
Today, I start a different path to God. I have been at Poole since March 2017, and full-time since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. I began as an intern pastor at my home congregation in June 1982, the summer Shirley I got married. During our time in Thailand working with refugees, I preached a few sermons in the Vietnamese and Cambodian churches. My first congregation, Bethel Mennonite in Lancaster, was where I served from 1987-1991. I was at Floradale from 1991-2016, a full 25 years.
Poets and theologians have written about the paths to the eternal since forever. Jesus said the narrow way is better than the wide way. Have you ever taken the wrong road, spiritually ? When my home church encouraged me to be a pastor, they wanted me to go to Bible School after high school. I decided to go to Trent University. Was that the wrong or even sinful path ? Maybe so, but God’s grace was extended to me. When we got married, we decided to go with MCC and not to finish my schooling to be a pastor. Was that the wrong or sinful path for our journey with God ? God’s grace again was extended to me/us.
The road as a pastor, for me, has been a calling that was not always easy. Conflict has always been a challenge for me. Knowing when to intervene, and when to be silent is not easy. Often I thought the sermon could be better, but by Tuesday the next sermon needed to be started. The second guessing did not stay with me. The most satisfying part of my work has been walking alongside people when they are hurting, and when God does answer our questions about life and death. God’s grace flourishes at these times.
Thank you for pondering, listening and responding to my Ponder Anew blog.
“I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
—I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.” Robert Frost 1916
The above link will take you to my Ponder Anew WordPress site.
Fred
black and white shadows
crush humanity’s freedom
am I complicit ? MPL 2025
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Ponder Anew 