57 AND 37

I am 57 and Mark is 37. We are twenty years apart, but not so far apart, I guess.

I ate lunch with Mark today and took note of the following.
1. We both like Chinese food.
2. We both look at our watches.
3. We both are thinking about the future.

I am Mark's "mentor", or, at least, that should be my function as an "older" to a "younger" pastor. Mark and I work together at Grace, and he is a friend as well as a fellow-laborer.

We talked alot about issues confronting us today in the midst of a building program and the ongoing challenges of a growing church. Much of that is management-related, heightened by a concern for putting the right people resources in place to meet the burgeoning needs.

We also mused about the future together. That looks different for a man voluntarily facing reduced responsibility or retirement within the next 5-10 years, and a man looking to the productive middle-age years of life.

What is similar, however, is our love for God's work and our mutual commitment to the body of Grace. What will that look like in five years?

At 57 and 37 we are not so far apart.