One of the benefits of pastoring a church that has been blessed with its own building is having a place to go to pray. On Sundays, I stand at the pulpit and preach God’s Word. On Monday mornings, however, I sit in the pew. I bring my Bible, the latest issue of Tabletalk, and a pen. It is a small change in environment. I could just spend that time doing my devotions in my study.

But my soul needs the separation. It requires the reminder that God’s word is for me as well, not just for those under my care.

Being entirely new to this role and this way of life, I can already see how easy it would be to get caught up in everything that needs to be done. Setting up the new sound system, trying to plan out pastoral visits, not to mention the fact that Sunday is always coming (along with preparing teaching for our Tuesday night prayer meeting).

Having a time of quiet contemplation each day is a small way to help guard against all of this. We’ll see how well this practice holds up in the dead of winter with the heating switched off!