Joel M Bradshaw

20Listen to advice and accept instruction,
that you may gain wisdom in the future.–Proverbs 19

One of the things I find meaningful as I do these daily devotions is that as I read the text for that day, memories will sometimes just jump to the front of my mind. It happened yesterday with Blarney Castle. It happened again today.

I was in the early days of youth ministry. An intern. The summer between college and seminary. Racine, Wisconsin. The teens and I had planned a fun event that we hoped would become a repeatable thing they could invite their friends to. Everybody was excited.

The big night happened. No guests showed up. I was heartbroken. I felt both dejected and rejected. The teens were disappointed, but still willing. I, however, was not. In a moment that still makes me shake my head, I told everyone to go home. I thanked them all for their hard work, but they could see the look on my face. They knew how I was feeling. In a moment of frustration, I made that decision to cancel.

I’ll never forget the senior pastor, Jerry, and what he said to me the next day. “You should have still had the event. Even with the teens that showed up.” I knew he was right, and I apologized. He told me to learn from this moment.

Years later, I am the pastor of a small church. Prospect Heights, Illinois. Again, I am faced with a situation where numbers weren’t encouraging. My friend and church elder Terry, saw I was disappointed and told me a story about a young preacher and a farmer. The preacher was disappointed in attendence and the farmer said, “Preacher, I may just be an old farmer, but I when I wake up every morning, I go to the barn, and feed whatever cows show up to the trough.”

Terry’s words immediately took me back to Jerry’s words. Was I going to react immaturely like before? No. I began to see opportunities to love people one story at a time. To care for them in whatever way I could. To use my own story for God’s glory and to encourage the flock. I stayed the course. I didn’t give up. I trusted God.

I wish I could go back and do that youth event over and celebrate those teens and their hard work. But, all I could do was learn from my past and continue to feed whoever God has brought to be fed.

Take heed of the wise advice given to you and pay attention for opportunities to put it into practice.—JMB