I was at WPA’s Sunday service this morning and pastor John Richardson was preaching today. John is 99 years old this year and still ministering. Right from the get-go, you could tell this man was a master at his craft. He preached about having your faith tested, and the importance of remaining faithful through it all. Coming from someone who has had numerous health complications in just the last year (what with being almost a hundred years old and all) and who is still preparing and delivering messages, that’s pretty encouraging and exemplary stuff. I’m looking forward to next year, where he’s already scheduled to speak on the same weekend at the end of July, 2012 (he’s got a long-standing gag-deal with his doctor to keep him well enough to speak again “next year”, which is annually renewed).
During the walk home (I decided I could use the fresh air + thinking time) I reflected on my own life and skills. What do I have to give to others, to those who do and do not know God in a personal way? Mathematics and Business Administration training aren’t usually the first two disciplines that come to mind when I think of fields of studies that are readily translatable into ministry or evangelism. This is probably why I think it’s going to be a lot of fun, partnering with God to make this whole vocation thing work out, even when it arguably defies conventional wisdom.
After all, education and training are just tools, to be used for good or evil, noble or ignoble purposes—what matters is not a man’s tools but the purpose and skill with which he wields them.