Life Unexpected

As a pastor, I often find myself with a front row seat to the brokenness that permeates our world.  It's what keeps me up at night, what drives me to my knees, and what pushes me to keep doing what I do.  In fact, if I were to write a description for pastors, I would include:  Must be willing to have your heart break...over and over again.  It happens when I sit across from a teenager over a cup of Dunkin as they show me the scars from cutting.  It happens when I get a phone call from a parent whose child has been placed in a juvenile detention home.  It happens when I pray over a kid who will spend another Christmas away from her parents because they are in jail.  It happens daily as I listen to people's stories...stories that turned out differently than expected.  It happened this week while serving in a homeless shelter. I don't remember his name, but from the start I could tell he was carrying an immense amount of pain.  It was freezing that night and trying

I have been told multiple times in my life that my family is "unusual."  This is such a loaded statement and there are probably a million reasons why we could be described as "unusual."  Maybe it's because we like to go to yard sales while we are on vacation or split cupcakes and donuts 10 ways so that everyone can try each flavor.  Maybe it's because we rent metal detectors at midnight in hopes of finding wedding rings or trek down the street in the snow...in our PJ's...on Christmas Eve in hopes we will see Santa.  Maybe it's because we roll down the windows in my Mom's GMC Safari (which by the way is the ugliest mini van on the market) and blast David Crowder at deafening volumes in some of the classiest places or because we like to make random sounds while walking in public places...all at the same time.  Or, maybe people just think we are weird and they use the term "unusual" to be kind. Yesterday, as we were making the 10 hour