Parkwood Presbyterian Church: From the Pastor, November, 2001

From the Other Pastor's Desk...
November, 2001

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You've probably got the same problem I have. I was reminded of it when I read a cartoon showing four empty chairs arranged in a circle. The caption read, "Encounter group for procrastinators." Right. Every so often I realize I'm procrastinating on some aspect of my life or ministry and I write myself a not: "NO PROCRASTINATING!" Sometimes I feel like I need to find a Procrastinators Anonymous Club. But, apparently they have yet to meet and the president, who was elected in 1971, has yet to be installed. They say that if you keep putting things off, you will find that, most of the time, they never needed to be done in the first place. So I guess procrastination saves a lot of time. I mean, why paint your house? They're eventually going to put a ring road around Ottawa - maybe it will go through your house!

My propensity to procrastinate makes me feel discouraged. Not keeping m word to myself deflates me. It made me recently turn to Scripture where I noticed some new things about Jesus. I read in the Gospels of what Jesus said and did and I realized that He did everything He said He would. But it was precious little! He said three times that He was going to die for us and rise again, and He did. He told the disciples that He would meet them in the Galilee after the resurrection (Mark 14:28) and in Mark 13:26-27 He tells us that He will come again. But that's all He said He would do. All the rest He just DID! He rarely said, "I will." For Jesus, there was no gap between His intentions and His actions. He lived and died in the present tense so we could have a future with Him.

Now, I've got some not so good excuses for being poor at keeping my word to myself. Like you I tend to live life in the fast lane and as a pastor I juggle all sorts of information, needs, commitments, responsibilities, goals, hopes, dreams and intentions. Every so often I'll drop one. But I really want to be able to keep my word to myself. I know that in Jesus there is strength to do so and that, as I pray, there is forgiveness also. So I will just keep working on this aspect of my witness for Christ. But, I do believe now that when Paul said, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" - that he also meant to include procrastination!