Grace Lived Out

Knowing what matters … living restful and purposeful lives

A Vocation Unlike Most: A Pastor’s Charge to Fellow Pastors

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At the beginning of my pastoral career, an elderly pastor shared two key points with me: “Your vocation is unlike most. Your latter years of life can be your most effective ones.” I’m now decades away from this conversation, which proved to be invaluable to me. He unpacked his two key points by way of […] Read More »

“The Mark of a Great Athlete is to Be Bruised Yet Still Conquer”: A Vocation Unlike Most

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Responding to God’s call to the pastorate is not for the faint of heart. To be a pastor, of course, is a great privilege — for it affords a person the opportunity to work intimately with “the great Shepherd of the sheep.” This vocation, however, is unlike most: Paul understood it to involve struggle, suffering, […] Read More »

Intimacy with God

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Lovers can have between themselves a depth of intimacy and communication that goes beyond words. To think that communication with the Living God, our Abba, cannot involve something equivalent or even greater is ridiculous (Psa 42:7). John Cassian describes this type of prayer as “an immeasurable fire of love. The soul settles in it and sinks […] Read More »

Difficult Roads, Beautiful Destinations

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Difficult roads may lead to beautiful destinations. The following thoughts, from Isaac of Nineveh, may help you on your journey to a better place. “I have no broken heart to start me on the quest for you [Lord Jesus]. No penitence, no tenderness … I have no tears with which to pray to you. My spirit is in darkness …  my heart is cold …  I know not how to make it warm again by tears of love for you.… I have forsaken you. Do not forsake me. I have wandered far from you. Do set out in quest of me.” Read More »

© Peter Dubbelman, 2015

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