Friday, May 31, 2013

Catching up

Back in 2008 I was called to be the General Associate Pastor at Pinewoods Chapel responsible for youth/worship/children and some administrative. I was there for 2 years and only had to move on due to finances of the church at the time. We have stayed in contact and for a while we even just attended while waiting for what God had next for us. It's now 2013 and I'm the Youth Pastor at Stayner EMC, and I I still keep in contact with people from Pinewoods and Mt Pleasant EMC where I was Lead pastor for a year. Last night I had the opportunity to speak at youth for Pinewoods once again and it was neat to see the changes - new youth that had grown into the group from being kids when I was Associate before, the programme was still similar to what I used to do - and the response was great. It was great to catch up with Pastor Chris and John McConnell too who I worked with.

Time flies and things change. Sometimes it's just nice to go back and see what's been going on after you leave a situation. God is still working at both places where I have been, and it just reminds you how God steers you where He wills. That the ways we expect things to turn out aren't always what we expect them to be, but are what He wants for us to grow in our walk. 

For me when I arrived in the fall of 2008, I had never expected to be part of Life doing Ask The Pastor and then being an announcer, yet in 2013 Ask The Pastor has been on the air 4 years, and I have been an announcer for a year!

Sometimes it's good to just catch up and see how God has blessed and led in both the expected and the unexpected ways. We trust Him in all things so that when life takes an unexpected turn, we don't go into panic mode. Instead we do as Proverbs 3:5 - 6 says, 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;

6 in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight.

When we fail to look back and see how God has worked it can be hard to look to the future and see hope in our present situations. 

God bless!

Pastor Andrew

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