Debi and I will be celebrating our 35th Wedding Anniversary this year with a trip to St. Thomas on June 24th (more on that in an upcoming post). Longevity to a call.
Of course I am referring to our 'call' to marriage, or am I? I heard the following story:
Suleyman Guresci, of Izmir, Turkey divorced his wife of 21 years after a bitter six-year court battle. In an effort to find the ideal woman, Guresci turned to a computer dating service—the kind that evaluates your written profile and suggests matches for you.
Ironically, from a list of 2000 prospective brides, the computer selected his former wife, who (unbeknownst to Guresci) had signed up for the same service. Guresci's response? He decided to remarry his wife just nine months after their divorce. He said, "I did not know that my ex-wife had been the ideal counterpart for a marriage. I decided to give it another try by being more tolerant toward her."
The principle Guresci learned also applies to a number of other areas: your church, your ministry, your job, and so on. C. Peter Wagner points out that one common characteristic of effective pastors is a commitment to stay: They're not looking for greener pastures.
Have I longed for greener pastures? Yes! When? When things were tough; people disgruntled with me, my preaching, my leadership, direction of the church, lack of spiritual gifts (as if it was my fault, forgetting that they are the Holy Spirit's to do what He pleases when He pleases for His purposes), etc.
But, the 'call,' to stay!
I learned like Guresci learned about his marriage, your ideal situation might be the one you're in right now.
1 comment:
We did a cruise last year... hit St. Thomas for one day... wasn't near enough... hope you have an awesome time!
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