"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction."
Proverbs 1:7
Way back in the early 1980's, I was teaching my very first class of elementary school students. I had done a good job working through the elementary education courses in college, but I was woefully unprepared for the job. I was stubborn enough to hang in there and work on getting better. Yet it took about three weeks of teaching before I quit telling myself, "Boy! They sure didn't teach me this stuff in teacher school!"
Over the 29 years that I taught, it became a regular joke that I would share with my students whenever we ran into a situation in which we didn't really know what to do - other than to just plow ahead and see if we could figure things out.
I am finding myself thinking similar thoughts as I confront how to be a faithful pastor to my church as all of us are self-quarantined at home, as our church services are all done completely on-line using my computer, some pretty clever software, and a hand-held Canon video camera. Each time I become frustrated with our current situation, and I cannot think of anything to make it easier, smoother, or more successful, I almost cry out to God: "They didn't teach me this stuff in seminary!"
And yet...
I am finding that my past technology training is coming in very handy:
- Who knew that the Lord had prepared me for this work way back in the 1990's when I learned video-editing software?
- Who knew that when I learned to produce closed-circuit TV shows at the schools where I taught I would one day apply that knowledge to my current ministry?
- Who knew that although I didn't learn this stuff in "minister school" God made sure I learned it somewhere?
So, I have stopped complaining and lamenting...mostly. I am now thanking God every day for the training I have and the successes we are having. I also ask Him to bless those other pastors who don't have the same training to hang in there and do the best they can - shaky cameras, poor lighting, and a message that was never purposely intended to be put out there this way...God is blessing those messages anyway!
Perhaps all this is God's way of forcing us to look at our work in brand new ways.
Alleluia! Amen!
