Roller Coaster

I love riding roller coasters.

The wilder the better.

A slow and deliberate climb to dizzying heights. Then the bottom drops out from under you and you plummet from the mountain top to the lowest point of the ride in a matter of split seconds.

Then back up from the bottom into a disorienting corkscrew that has you upside down half the time before another climb up to a breathtaking view of the park for a brief moment before you plunge back down.

It’s a great experience if you’re looking for a distraction or a thrill while you’re on vacation at an amusement park.

It’s not so great when it’s what you experience in your ministry calling.

But it shouldn’t come as a surprise.

God warned Jeremiah, when He called him to ministry, that his message would not be well-received and that there would be severe opposition, but I don’t think anything could have prepared the prophet for what was coming.

Like 2020 caught us all off guard.

Hearing from pastors across the country and all they are facing right now, ministry has become a roller coaster…and not the hands-in-the-air fun kind.

You can hear it in Jeremiah’s words from Jeremiah 20…

 

“O Lord, you misled me…”

“I am mocked every day…”

“These messages from the Lord have made me a household joke.”

“But if I say I’ll never mention the Lord…his words burn in my heart like a fire. I’m worn out trying to hold it in.”

“Even my friends are watching me, waiting for a fatal slip.”

“But the Lord stands beside me like a great warrior…my persecutors will stumble.”

“Sing to the Lord!”

“I curse the day I was born…”

“My entire life has been filled with trouble, sorrow and shame.”

 

Can you sense the wild ride Jeremiah is on just in this brief season of his ministry covered by chapter 20?

Nothing can prepare you for this.

Nothing will get you through this except a determined confidence in the One who called you, and faith strengthened by much prayer, worship and conversations with like-minded pastor friends and mentors.

You’ll have to take the initiative, but surround yourself with people of faith who will stand with you and have the courage to keep you from self-pity.

This roller coaster season we are in is unlike anything pastors have faced for hundreds of years. But I’m convinced that great blessing and kingdom expansion awaits those who refuse to give up!