People generally don't appreciate what ministry is really like. This is a re-post which describes just two hours of my time one day: "I needed to get four people together to negotiate a solution to a big problem. But no. 4 was missing. I started out with three. I soon realised that I needed input from an attorney. I walked out of the session, to ask our secretary to obtain the advice -- only to walk into another counselee, who was with his parents. I said to him, “Stick with the [written] guidelines I gave you. I've been praying for you.” I went back into the counselling session. After a while, I decided to see whether no. 4 might not be waiting on the street -- we needed them. I walked onto the street, only to be confronted by someone who was deeply troubled by a theological problem. I gave him a “telegram” answer. Back in counselling again, no. 4 turned up. We needed to recap. Now the phone rang, and our secretary put me through to an attorney. The attorney could answer some things, and would get back to me on the rest. We got on with counselling. After a while, our secretary knocked on the door. She had some answers from the attorney -- but another counselee stepped between us. I said, “I’m sorry, I'm in a session. This will take a long time.” I made an appointment with them for another day. Even after I was through -- two hours of counselling, and a successful resolution, someone was waiting outside the door to consult me on a Church matter." OBSERVATION: Many days are like that. As a minister, I was in high demand for counselling -- other ministers may be in high demand in their own areas of gifting.
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