Prove it!

I had the great privilege of speaking at the Retired Officers Retreat this morning & then to sit down and chat with several retired pastors in my denomination.

Quite often in circles such as these I am known as my father & mother's son. I was quite surprised by how many faces I recognized (not to mention a little unnerved to see my training principal of ten years ago sitting in the front row!).

At lunch one gentleman was recollecting how his mother had died when he was five years old and his sister 6 months old. His father, being a pastor in TSA was told that there was an appointment waiting for him in another province but he couldn't take his children. For two years, these two grieving young children & their grief stricken father lived separately. WOW! Now a retired officer himself, he said, "That just wouldn't be tolerated today!" True, but what a sacrifice.

Another conversation began between myself and a woman who is now 76 years old and has been retired for 11 years. She told me that they ministered in the days when you were not guaranteed a salary & sometimes went weeks without receiving one (and there was no retroactive pay). She said, "We never wanted for anything and we always had what we needed." She said, "We proved our faith & God's faithfulness by having food on the table for our kids when we had no money. We had to put two new sets of shocks in our car from having the camp kids ride around in it when we were youth leaders. We paid for that ourselves from nothing." Sacrifice.

She then looked me in the eye and sincerely asked, "How does your generation of officers prove your faith & God's faithfulness? I'm sure there are stresses, just different stresses."

She stumped me.

Sure, as officers we sign a paper that we aren't guaranteed a salary (and it isn't supposed to even be called a salary rather an allowance). But the reality is, in ten years I haven't had to miss one. I have it very good. Are there stresses - yes! But how are my kids seeing the proof of my faith & God's faithfulness by how I live? What does the sacrifice look like for me?