“Never say ‘never’. God may have other plans.”

Luke 10:2: "And he said to them, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.'"

When I first got behind the pulpit I was scared to death.   I was a second career pastor and never, ever, never, ever thought that I would be talking to people from a stage.   I was always the shy guy.   I would cringe at the thought of standing up in front of people.   I would make all kinds of excuses and sometimes even just plain run away.   

I hated the thought of all those people looking at me.   For me to even consider getting in front of people I’d have to have a haircut, my clothes professionally pressed, my teeth cleaned and my boots shined.   Then, maybe then, I might stand and read a short statement off a cue card.   

Then a funny thing happened.   

I said I’d never do something.   

We’ve all done it.   We’ve all said we’d never do something we’re afraid of.   Like talking in front of crowds or moving from our hometowns.   

I think that God has special angels that hang around waiting for people to indignantly say, “I will never do that!”  

My angels are at the top of the class when it comes to telling on me.   

It never occurred to me when I heard the call to ministry that I’d have to get up in front of people to preach.   Yes.  I’m that dense.    I don’t know!   It just never came to mind.   

On my first Sunday, I sat in the little preacher’s pew watching the music minister wave his arms up and down with a smile on my face when all of a sudden it hit me like a ton of bricks.   

People were looking at me!   

Uuuuuggggghhhh!

I was scared to death.   My hands were shaking and my palms were sweating.   I wondered how bad it would be if I just took off running down the pews and out of the church.   

Then a funny thing happened.   

God gave me peace.   

God takes our fears, turns them inside out, and gives us a new strength to overcome them.   When we follow God’s call there’s no telling where we’ll be or what we’ll be doing, but the one thing I do know is that the yolk will always be easy with God’s strength pulling the plow.   

This is my last column for my DeWitt community.   

I made a mistake.   

I said never.   

My wife and I never wanted to move away from here.   We love everything about DeWitt.   

I said I would never take another church.  The church family at the DeWitt Methodist Church is the finest you’ll ever meet.   

God heard me say “never” and so once again, my wife and I found ourselves on a new journey.  We are moving to another church in another state.   

Yes.  We are scared to death, but we have both come to learn over our years in ministry that when we are scared, God will give us strength.   

Today is goodbye.  Thank you for reading my ramblings and all your comments I’ve received out in the community.   I hope they have made you laugh or smile, but above all I hope they have shown you that Jesus can be found in every part of our lives. 

Blessings My Friends, 

Rev. Dr. Troy Conrad