Faithfulness and Okey

These past couple week I have been reminded that my faithfulness comes before what my limited eyes view as success. Not in the "I just sit around and pray hoping God brings me stuff that I don't work for" way, but in the "I work harder then any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me" way. And it's true before any worldly titles I could hold or any other successes, faithfulness is still the thing I cannot do without.

What does being faithful mean for me....it means not rolling my eyes when I need to change my fourth poopy diaper of the morning and am only watching two kids, it means being on time places (I need to really work on this), it means praying before I even leave my house for the blessings and needs of the day, it means doing my work (paid or not) as if the Lord was my only employer. It means all of that and lots more.

Although in some ways I would have been happier without this reminder, it is good for me, and as an added bonus it made me think a lot about a pastor who is one of the best examples of a faithful person I know. Sometimes I wish I was in his small church of 60 or so people, on a humid Sunday morning, just a walk away from the Atlantic Ocean. I would listen to his preaching, hear his congregation members pray and sing, and then leave only to be greeted by his sweaty hug and handshake. This man on a causal weekday night stayed up going chapter by chapter through Revelation and Romans...He would also "host" a Theology night once a week where he would answer any question we college kiddos would have, always using scripture to answer the questions with a Bible in hand, but rarely needing open it, to quote it. His preaching is more faithful and simply put, better than many pastors with congregations in the thousands. He has many struggles in his life, but his faithfulness is steadfast. He is a man who unmistakably has been with the Lord.

His life by some outsiders may be looked upon as lacking success (pastor of a smaller aging church and former real estate agent), but his example to me is one of successful faithfulness in glorifying the Lord. I thank and praise the Lord for Okey and his example of faithfulness.