I’ve said this before but an issue
with being a pastor is you tend to wear
your thoughts on your sleeve, and very
little of your personal life is private. My
thoughts, my struggles, my highs, and my
lows all tend to show up either in a
sermon, online post, or words of hope.
And these words of hope are no different.
It has been a while since I have written a
Messenger. I actually have written a few
words of hope but scratched them and
didn’t publish them. Now I find myself half
way through February and I am finally
getting around to it. In January it was cold,
too cold, I’ve tried to work outside and
everything was frozen, and hours of work
only accomplishing minutes of work. So, I
reclused to my office determining to make
the best use of my time. In doing so, I’ve
had a bit of a come to Jesus moment,
(which as a pastor is a good thing.)
I sat in my office spinning my wheels
not knowing which direction to turn,
feeling overburdened with what needs to
be accomplished, but doing nothing to
accomplish anything. I finally just cried out
to the Lord, and said “what should I do?” I
then found myself staring at my bookshelf,
knowing education time is never wasted,
and the old saying of knowledge is power
came through my mind. Now I pour my

thoughts out on ink, and my personal
struggles. I do not read often anymore as I
cannot stay awake when I read. Less than
3 minutes into reading and I found myself
dozing off. I barely made it past the first
page. Then I got angry. I know what I
need to do, but a slight inconvenience
gives me reason to ignore what needs to
be done.
But I decided I had to push through
it. I had settled on a book entitled
“Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life,” by
Charles Swindoll. As I started to read, and
fight dozing off, I realized I was missing
something drastic. I was hungry to learn
more about God, to grow deeper in my
faith, but I have been filling my time with
junk. I’ve fallen into Satan’s trap of
wasted time. I’ve made excuses and
sidetracked responsibility and missed the
opportunity for disciple, consistency, and
spiritual growth. You see my thoughts
again are on my sleeve and put onto ink.
Thoughts of giving up the ministry crosses
my mind, (and if you ask any honest
pastor, they share these thoughts too; I’m
not alone) and at moments of frustration
I’ve wanted to go back to a secular job.
Yet while I read, in the first few pages, I
see Charles Swindoll words as he says
“That’s it! I’m tossing in my collar. No
more sermons and devotionals for this
preacher. Secular Job here I come!”
So, I’m writing you these words of
hope; and no, I am NOT giving up the
ministry; because as I read deeper and
read about the prophet Jeremiah’s life and
his struggles, I see Jeremiah 20:9b “his

word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut
up in my bones. I am weary of holding it
in; indeed, I cannot.” And I feel the
passion burn inside; when I sit with a
broken hurting family who needs to hear
the message of eternal life after they lose a
loved one. Or the desire to share with a
teenage who questions the meaning of
life. My desire to share with someone the
reason for what I believe stirs me up. But
like the bleak cold mid winter’s day, my
spiritual growth had taken some time off.
I was cold, flat, and spiritually hungry.
And I needed to spend some time
diving into God’s word. So, I write these
words today to challenge you with this.
Are you hungry? How is your spiritual
walk? Are you struggling, are you losing
you zeal for God this cold winter? Are you
making excuses as to why you don’t have
time, or the energy to grow spiritually.
Well, I am going to be as blunt with you as
I am with myself. Cut the crap. Enough,
grow up and discipline your mind, your
heart, and get back to reading God’s word.
You are starving, and ‘Man shall not live on
bread alone, but on every word that comes
from the mouth of God.’ Open your Bible.
Get back into spending time with God, and
reading his word. No more excuses, start
reading now.
Your Words of Hope,
Lance Wetter