Family time

I returned last night from spending a week with our son and his family.  He had major back surgery last week, and my wife and I went to help out with getting people where they needed to go and being there to support him.  The surgery went fine, and his prognosis is very good.  He had one of the foremost surgeons in the country, and the surgeon was very pleased with how the surgery progressed and what he sees in the x-rays.  Our son is up and walking around a little and was going to begin working a few hours a day from his home.  We are very thankful that it has gone as well as it has.

Situations like this never come at convenient times.  I cancelled speaking at a weekend retreat that had been scheduled for several weeks, cancelled preaching in one of my churches on Sunday, and had to let our executive minister I would have to miss our monthly staff meeting when we determined we needed to stay there an extra day.  I am thankful that everyone was understanding of our situation and were willing to make other arrangements.

Unfortunately, I know too many pastors who would have put their ministry responsibilities before the needs of their family.  I also know churches that would expect them to.  Neither are healthy.  As I have said in many workshops, if I fail my family I will have failed as a minister regardless of the size of the church or ministry I might lead.  I would encourage you to make sure you are there for your family whenever special needs exist.

I now have a lot of work I need to catch up on, but that's OK.  Our son is doing well, and their situation is returning closer to normal.  I know they appreciated our efforts to help ease some of their load during this time, and my wife and I certainly felt better being with them.  Everyone won, and that's a good feeling.