Well, life as Pastor Doug goes on.
An interesting thing about my brand new life is that there are two. Well, there's the pic. I had in my head and the one that is rapidly obliterating most of said picture. This isn't to say that there are no places were my two lives overlap. Though I wish these overlapping places would happen in more of the parts of my liking. Anyhow, why don't I just mention some of these, both the ones in common and the ones I was way off on.
My original picture of being a pastor was one in which there were no administrative duties and meetings would be short, to the point and 100% productive. That would be because the meetings would be there to agree on all the great ideas and results of the creative process that all committees have already gone through. Of course, I was aware that that was my fantasy and was eager to see how reality would change it.
So, I started work and this is what happened to that picture. In order to get anything done there is much administrative work to be done. But that's just so that one is more prepared to go to the meeting to discuss what's hoped to be the end product. There's nothing wrong with the idea changing and being adjusted as more people bring their input on it. However, some ideas spend a really long time being thought of, about, and worked out. Now granted, some of these ideas deserve to be there and stay there. So, my fantasy has been and will be adjusted and brought to reality as time goes on. The first adjustment, or the one that's seem most noticeable for me has been on the creative side, this has made me look at that process in a very different way. I think now I've come to see my ideas and or possible plans for the church in very much the same way NYC looks like from across the Hudson river. It is beautiful, in some instances breathtaking. It also looks very orderly and well planned. On a clear day one can see clear across Manhattan through one of the streets that run east to west. From a distance it's great, but now as a Pastor I need to cross that bridge and deal with all the details and how people affect them. In other words, I know now my ideas will get messy, difficult, and changed. For some people that's very stressful. Just as they do not like NYC because it's loud, messy, etc. some prefer not to go through all the trouble of working an Idea through to execution. I on the other hand, like NYC so much that I'm willing to "put up" with all its messiness and its even fun for me ( at times). Well, this analogy was working up to now. I'm not sure I like the messiness of working through ideas as much as being in NYC. But what I do know is that I like the picture I have of the church from across the river so much that I am willing to get in there and work. Not as a challenge but in a thankful attitude towards the one who created all its beauty and calls us to come closer to Him through the church He created.
