When we hear about a celebration of any sort, we tend to hear the outcome of a person’s story. The summation of the matter usually has some details omitted for the sake of time. Initially, if we are to be transparent, the story starts as not one that we desire to tell. I would like to tell a short story to illustrate how important it is to celebrate our time. This story takes place from September 01, 2011 – March 22, 2017. We were the proud Pastors of NLCFM, and we were excited to serve God’s people during this time. This is going to go fast, but I pray to stay mindful of the importance of “TIME.” In the summer of 2016, God began to impress upon me that this part of our lives were coming to an end. I didn’t even consider it being that I was taught that once you start pastoring, it is a lifetime mission, and you NEVER abandon the people of God. By now you should be reflecting on a time in your own life when you are about to have an encounter with the Lord.
By the middle of December 2016, the Lord had made it abundantly clear that it was time for us to suspend our pastoral mission where we were located and prepare to relocate. This was a very hard thing to do because I was taught NEVER to quit on the people whom the Lord entrusted you with. At the time, I saw ABSOLUTELY NO REASON to celebrate in that moment. The night that we told the Church Family that we had to suspend the services and that we were relocating to a different place, we cried, prayed, praised and they had their moment to speak their hearts. Their feedback was AWESOME yet at the time, I was not feeling celebratory. I wanted to follow the pity pot. BUT GOD’S JOY touched me in a way that I can’t explain. Shortly after that last meeting, we cleared the building, and the time came to turn in the keys to the property manager. Now when we did the final walk through, the property manager was amazed at what we had done for the building and praised us for “how we showed Honor to the House of the Lord!” How’s your personal story coming along? I’m almost done, and we will see that all along a celebration was taking place.
When I handed those keys over, it felt like something was being taken away from me and the pain of it drew tears that I didn’t know were there. It took me a few days to get back to engaging with people without crying. I found myself becoming a water bag because of feeling guilty for letting God and the people down. What I was not realizing was Father was pleased with me because although I was agonizing over what I thought was my wronging the people of God, I was actually obeying HIS wishes above my own and the celebration was taking place with each step of obedience. I won’t go into all the other details of the story. I pray that by now, you are aware of your own details and that your own celebration will overshadow the temporary pain of the process.
I said earlier that there is always a TIME for Celebration and with the Lord on our side, no matter what the details of the journey of life will be, ALL IS WELL! The time from 2011 – 2017 was used to teach me how not to become more attached to people than God. As we walk with the Lord, we’d learn and know that our life’s mission is a mission of servitude and when we Let Go and Let God, we walk in a Victorious Life! So, you see, there is Always a TIME to Celebrate!!
MC Jr