Monday Morning Manna: Carry on! Preach on!

I completed another Interim Pastorate yesterday. I only served as Pastor of two churches before I went to work for the denomination, but since then, I’ve served as Interim Pastor of twenty-six churches. This time I was asked if this was my last interim or if I planned on taking on another one. Since number twenty-seven may be only a week or so away, my response was that one doesn’t quit preaching because he gets old, but rather he gets old because he quits preaching. I think that is a paraphrase from a quote in another field of endeavor, but it works here as well. I will soon enter a new decade, and unless God has another idea, I don’t plan on slowing down. When I retired from my Seminary faculty position, I said I was retiring from a position, not from a calling. So, I’ll keep on working, following my calling. The elderly professional baseball pitcher, Satchel Paige said, “When I works, I works hard. When I plays, I plays hard. And when I stops, I falls to sleep.” I know what he means. I’m claiming Isaiah 46:4 (NASB), “Even to your old age I will be the same, and even to your graying years I will carry you! I have done it, and I will bear you; and I will carry you and I will save you.” Carry on, Lord while I preach on!

Dr. Dan Crawford, Senior Professor at Southwestern Baptist Seminary, is the WestCoast Baptist Association’s Spiritual Life & Leadership Mentor. Follow Dan on Twitter @DrDanRC and Facebook www.facebook.com/dan.crawford.