This month I commenced my 20th year in 'full-time ministry'. I remember my first day, a Tuesday, in Sydney Australia. I was allocated a very small downstairs office with paper-thin walls which, if I wished it to be anything other than basic white, I could decorate myself.
Over the years I've been involved in pastoring, church planting, leading Bible Colleges and so on - and I am blessed to have received from and met some of the most respected ministers of the last century. Some things I have been deeply and eternally changed by, others I have found terribly tragic.
If I have learnt one thing that stands out above all the others it is this: 'the ministry' comes down to loving God and loving people, in that order. If you lose those things you lose everything of value. If you keep those two things in their rightful place, you will be able to continue happy and fruitful, even when experiencing the unexpected things that the years tend to bring along.