From The Pastor’s Pen – By Brian Horrobin
In a 2002 speech at Howard University, lawyer Vernon Jordan said this: “You are where you are today because you stand on somebody’s shoulders. And wherever you are heading, you cannot get there by yourself. If you stand on the shoulders of others, you have a reciprocal responsibility to live your life so that others may stand on your shoulders. It’s the quid pro quo of life. We exist temporarily through what we take, but we live forever through what we give.”
I am in absolute 100% agreement with this principle!
I came to First Baptist Church in Wallaceburg back in the fall of 1992, agreeing to be their interim pastor for four months until they found a permanent pastor.
It then went to six months, then 10 months and then I ended up staying for these 28+ years and counting.
I was 27 years old and wet behind the years when I first arrived but thankfully I was following a man who had done much to make my transition easier.
Rev. Reg Babbey had faithfully served this church for the 22 years prior to my arrival.
During that time he saw the church through two separate phases of an extensive building program and brought pastoral care to countless families over that time span.
Where he had faithfully sown I was able to jump in and reap, much of the hardest work already done.
As we each do our part God can pull it all together.
I like what the apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3:6-7: “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.”
It is now my task to do what Vernon Jordan said, and that is to live my life so that others may stand on my shoulders.
I need to do this for my children, certainly, but also for those in my congregation and also my community.
I was given a great gift by my predecessor and I don’t want to waste it.
What are you doing with what has been entrusted to you?
