Being a Pastor

Check this out from today's Tozer:

Pastoral Ministry: In Need of a Physician

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in
green pastures; He leads my beside the still waters. He restores my
soul.... 
--Psalm 23:1-3

Human nature being what it is, the man of God may soon adopt an air
of constant piety and try to appear what the public thinks he is.
The fixed smile and hollow tones of the professional cleric are too
well known to require further mention.

All this show of godliness, by the squeeze of circumstances and
through no fault of the man himself, may become a front behind
which the man hides, a plaintive, secretly discouraged and lonely
soul. Here is no hypocrisy, no intentional double living, no actual
desire to deceive. The man has been mastered by the circumstances.
He has been made the keeper of other people's vineyards but his own
vineyard has not been kept. So many demands have been made upon him
that they have long ago exhausted his supply. He has been compelled
to minister to others while he himself is in desperate need of a
physician.  God Tells the Man Who Cares, 115.

"Lord, I pray for pastors everywhere today who are indeed exhausted
and depleted. The task is so overwhelming and the demands so
extreme. Come today with a fresh breath of Your Spirit to refresh,
renew, and restore. Amen."

We just had a banquet for STS yesterday.  It was pretty good, all things considered.  The speaker told some stories about how he had been hurt in ministry.  What's interesting is that Amanda was also sharing her concerns about being a pastor's wife.  Frankly, I haven't thought through all of those implications yet.  Apparently life moves into a fishbowl.  I don't have too many secrets, but I can imagine how that would get old.  This is especially true since our daughter is notoriously strong-willed.

All of this is a good reminder to me.  Yes, we need to be faithful and preach the Word.  We need to press on in hope and we need to rely on Jesus to get us through the inevitable trials.  That all sounds great right now, but I suspect that it is much easier said than done when in the midst of them.