You’re late. Anything that can go wrong has. You grab a cup of coffee and of course you spill some on yourself; but the one bright spot of the morning is you are wearing dark clothing and the coffee won’t show.  You hop in the car.  You give thanks that you’re not so late that you can blame the traffic.  Then it happens. Click. Click.  “No! Not today of all days! Not now!”

You pray, wait a few moments and try again. Click. Click. Who hasn’t heard the sound of a dead battery?  The Florida sun is deadly on car batteries. It is so deadly that it is usually without warning–not a slow dragging and then it starts. It just goes from starting to dead.

Not to be offensive, but some of you who are reading this have dead batteries.  You are just sitting there turning the key and the only sound you hear is click, click. The intensity of life, like the Florida sun has drained your battery.  The answer to a dead battery is a jump start. Another car’s battery is connected to ours and voila we are up and running until we can get the battery replaced.

When you need a jump start for your car, you don’t hesitate to ask for help because getting to where you are going is much more important than swallowing your pride and asking for help.  Who in their right mind will sit in their car and click, click for hours at a time?  No, you get out of your car and seek help.

Why is it when our spiritual battery is drained we just sit and click, click?  Is it because where we’re going isn’t important? Is it because we don’t want anyone to know we have a dead battery?  Why is getting to an appointment more important than doing God’s appointment?

I don’t know about you, but it is never a bother for someone to ask me to jump start their car. It’s just what good neighbors do. It’s never a bother for someone to ask for a spiritual jump start; it’s just what we do.  As a matter of fact it’s a joy to offer a jump start to someone.

Make sure you have people in your life who you can call on when the spiritual battery is dead.  Make the call, it’s not a bother.  It’s a pleasure to jump start someone.  If you don’t ask, you will miss your appointment.

Read the title again. Is there anything in your life that you absolutely “can’t not do?”  These are words of passion. They speak of purpose. They portray a spirit of desperation.  We’ve heard the word desperation a lot lately as it relates to our economy, changes in lifestyle, the uncertainty of the future political scene.  Desperation used in the negative context.  But what about being desperate in a positive way? When was the last time you were desperate for God?  Psalms 42:1-2 “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” These are words of someone longing for God.  An “I can’t not do this,” desperation for God, an absolute unsatisfiable thirst for the God of heaven.  When we find ourselves this desperate, God always answers, typically it is in that “gentle whisper” that He used to get the Prophet Elijah’s attention.  However He chooses to speak, we recognize Him.

Passion and purpose are never far behind a desperate desire for God.  They seem to burst out of a heart desperate for God.  The seeds of passion and purpose have always been there they simply needed to be watered by a desperation for God.

Suddenly the purpose of your existence is clear, and the passion to fulfill that purpose is like a raging fire and you “can’t not do this.” There will always be those who say it is not logical or reasonable and there is no security in this.  Your only answer is, “but it is right.”  Dr. David Jeremiah says, “In forty years of ministry, I have observed that passion and security are not frequently found together.  Passionate, visionary people spend their lives walking away from the easy route.”

Is there anything in your life that you “can’t not do”?  If there is, then pursue it as if it were the purpose for which you were created. Pursue it with passion.  If there is nothing you “can’t not do,” then you just aren’t living and you need to seek God in desperation 

You would have to live under a rock not to know that our economy is tanking. Bail-out, stimulus packages, unemployment, government take-overs, rising health insurance rates, home values decreasing and then there is the escalating cost of Diet Coke. Do you realize how I have to search to find two twelve-packs for $5.00? It’s enough to make a grown man cry, in private of course, and to publicly complain and lament profusely. Recently I have found myself using phrases like “I remember when”, and “times have sure changed,” “when I was growing up…,” and “honey, fetch my cane.” No, not really. The last statement was just a test to see if you were paying attention.

I hope that in reading the previous paragraph, you participated in the purpose of today’s blog and that is to prompt a smile. It is so easy to forget the power, value, and contagious nature of something as simple as a smile. Sure, life is tough and we are living in uncertain times, but just in case you have forgotten God is on the throne and He is fully aware of everything that is happening around us. He doesn’t need briefings from trusted advisors to keep Him up-to-date on minute by minute changes in the world.  He knows.

So why not do something you haven’t done for awhile and share a smile with someone else? A word of caution for some of you because it has been so long since you shared a smile, you may feel a cracking of the face, but continue sharing it. Due to the rareness of your smile, it may be met with a glare that says “what do you want” or “what did you do.” Don’t be discouraged. Keep it up and you may be amazed at how contagious your smile is and how much better it will make you feel along with those around you. One more word of caution, your smile may break out into spontaneous laughter. If this happens, don’t be alarmed. This is even better than a smile. “A cheerful heart is good medicine” Proverbs 17:22.  We all could use a dose of this medicine.

I close with this. Say “cheese.”  The Father is watching. “Click.” Don’t you feel better?

                                                                                                  Pastor Ron

The thought hit me in the second church service Sunday I’m not sure where it came from, considering the thought and the overwhelming weight of this thought. It must have come from the Holy Spirit.

Here’s the thought: somewhere there is a pastor standing before a group of people that he has faithfully served and loved. He has prayed for them, visited them, buried their dead and officiated over their children’s marriages. He has guarded their secrets with dogged confidentiality; he has at times taken from his own family and given to theirs. He has tried desperately to live up to their high expectations, but fell short as they have been quick to tell him and…today is his last Sunday. He has been terminated, fired, asked to leave, and told that he is just not a right fit. If he is one of the “fortunate” ones he is given the opportunity to give a farewell message; otherwise, he is simply told that his services are no longer needed and that is that. I knew this was happening somewhere today. Maybe not exactly as I thought but close enough so I prayed for my unknown brother. I prayed that he would depend upon the supernatural grace and strength of the Lord to get him through the day.

After the service my thoughts were confirmed as my wife shared with me an e-mail that a friend had sent us. The e-mail stated that a pastor friend had been terminated and that today was his last Sunday. Then it all made sense. I understood the prompting to pray for my fellow-brother. At the moment, that was the most I could do. When and if I find out what more I can do, rest assured, I will do so.

My growing passion and purpose of life is to come along side my brothers in ministry and help in every way possible. At times that may be as simple as a prompting to pray for them in the middle of a worship service.

Pastor Ron Cook

“It’s not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better.  The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena…who at best, knows in the end the triumph of great achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.  So that his place will never be with those cold timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.”

                                                                        Theodore Roosevelt

“Bite your tongue.” Wise words when it comes to speaking out in anger, criticism, or needless complaints. I fear that far too often we bite our tongue when we need to speak. Those of us who have been called to speak the timeless truths of God’s Word need to do so with boldness. I know what you’re thinking . “Yea I know you’re right, but you don’t have ________ in your church.” Yes I do and their name is ________. We all have _________ in our churches. Look at what Jeremiah had to say about this in Jeremiah 20:7-9. “O Lord, you deceived me, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed. I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me. Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the Lord has brought me insult and reproach all day long. But if I say, ‘I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,’ his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot”.

Do you have a fire in your bones? I am convinced that the heath and well-being of our churches and nation rest upon our pulpits being filled with God’s servants that have His word burning in our hearts and a fire in our bones. Can you dare to imagine if we all stopped biting our tongues and spoke God’s Word like we were on fire?

“God is looking for people through whom He can do the impossible. What a pity that we plan only the things we can do ourselves.” A. W. Tozer

What are your plans for the day? This week, this month…it is so easy to get in our comfort zone and miss out on the marvelous plan God has for our life.

Or how often do we make safe plans because we are “shell-shocked” from the criticism of individuals who are convinced  they have the extra-biblical gift of criticism?  And as you well know, those individuals abuse their “gift” very liberally.

How about being one of those rare individuals that Tozer referred to?  How would that change your plans? I need to regularly remind myself of the words in Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

I would love to hear your thoughts.

“Quite frankly, not only is this a needed ministry for today and tomorrow, but someone needs to give the church a good whack alongside the elder board.

Back in the day, Pastors were held up as a Pillar of the community, today they are given ultimatums and then thrown into the street for only doing what God called them to do.  Churches need to be held accountable and shown how to deliver grace and blessings to those whose feet are beautiful according to Isaiah 52:7.

I have sat in too many Pastors’ studies and wept with those who wept…I am confident of our calling, our illustrious training, and our decision to follow as the Lord leads.  Sometimes the Pastor needs to be set down and given a dose of Biblical reality, but most of the time it is petty grievances amongst the purse strings of the church which have prevailed.  God will surely judge accordingly.”

Denny (former Pastor)

Care for Pastors has been a tremendous blessing in the life of my family.  Each time I meet with Pastor Ron, I come away feeling more and more confident and aware of my calling.  If you are looking for a quick fix or permission slip, this is not the place for you; but if you are looking for a place where you can safely bare your soul and receive wise and prudent counsel, along with healing for your wounded heart, then Care for Pastors is that place.  Having a person in my life that holds me accountable and is never afraid to speak the truth in love is just what I need to be a better husband and father, and to prepare me for the ministry to which God has called me.  After two years of feeling unworthy to serve Him, Care for Pastor is showing me that I am worthy; but fulfilling this calling requires self-sacrifice that means putting God and others ahead of my selfish desires and ego.

Geoffrey

Care for Pastors has been just what our family needed.  Ron Cook’s honesty and straightforward counsel to both my husband and me, has been right on time.  He not only cares for my husband, but based on the time that he has been willing to invest in us as a family unit; it’s obvious that he cares for me and for our family as well.  We are truly blessed to be a part of this ministry, and for the first time in a long time, I am feeling excited about fulfilling the calling that God placed on us years ago, but more than that, I am feeling excited about what God is doing in my marriage.

Heather

I want to share with you today a note we received from a pastor and his family that we had the privilege of putting in a home here in Leesburg made available to us by one of our snowbirds. 

I am writing to let you know how grateful my family and I are for Care for Pastors ministry.  We went to your place feeling completely exhausted, burned and even defeated.  The short time that we spent with you and your beautiful congregation was enough for God to begin a process of restoration and as a result we now feel renewed, refreshed and recharged.

Many people will never know the loneliness that we, pastors sometimes experience doing ministry.  For young pastors like me, it is easy to get discouraged when you feel you have given everything you have and still see little or no results.  I must confess that the first days as your place I felt like an addict that needed detoxified from…believe it or not, ministry.

I am only 37 years old, but according to my doctor I was already at risk with heart problems. My heart was not only tender physically, but emotionally.  Thank you for treating me with such kindness and tenderness.  Pastor Ron and Rodetta, you ministered to my heart with your love, your patience and sweet kindness.  You are truly pastors to pastors!

Pastor from south Florida