Work to Be Done and Bills to Pay
I’m still not back yet, at least not back to posting essays. I’m working on five things right now. A new Foy story, a new dramatized story from the gospels, and three essays. It’s nice to work on several things at once. When I’m trying to post something every few days I end up putting all my energy into the one thing.
But that’s not the only reason I’m still taking a bit of a break. I have other work that needs doing. I think I’ve mentioned before that I am “bi-vocational,” as some people call it. I am the pastor of a small church, but I have another job. This is a very good thing for a pastor to do if he can. Many good things come of it. First, it prevents the small church from having to use such a large percentage of its limited income for the pastor. It also gives the pastor a wonderful perspective. You must make your way in the same world that your church friends live and work in every day. Finally, the people who are the church must see themselves as ministers. The pastor certainly can’t do everything. He has another job, bless his heart. People understand that.
Anyway, the whole thing has turned out so well that I would prefer to keep it this way and have made that known to our leadership. They seem willing as well. The idea is that I will always have a second job of one kind or another and the people of the church will always need to take care of some of the work of the church themselves.
Please don’t hear this as if it was some kind of virtue in me. I like it this way. It’s my preference. I have a freedom here that is almost unknown to most people. The church and I are simply not going to be able to expect more from each other than is appropriate.
So all of that brings me to the other reason that I won’t be posting essays for a few more days. I have a big web design deadline this week. I’m finishing up a website for a church here in Texas, and that’s got to be my main focus for the next few days.
It’s funny. Two years ago web design was an important creative outlet for me. I loved doing it. I loved making something, even if that something was, in reality, nothing more than a series of magnetic imprints on a hard drive somewhere. It was nothing physical, but it felt physical. I made something that existed in the world, unlike sermons that do not exist except in the present moment.
After I began writing in earnest back at the end of 2002, I began to secretly resent the web design work because it takes me away from my new and truer calling. Certainly writing is my greater love.
But there are bills to be paid and mouths to feed, as they say. So today I’ll be working to finish up the website for First Baptist Church of Midlothian, Texas where my former college roommate is the pastor.
I would imagine that I’ll post one of the essays I'm currently working on later this week if I can. I’m sure I will find the time. People always seem to find time for the things they really love.
rlp
8:00:34 AM 
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