An Expression of Pastoral Gratitude

http://www.gty.org/Resources/Sermons/90-378

Actually it was June 15thwhen I think I left for what was expected to be a couple of months of rest and reading and refreshment. It started out that way and I had a couple of books I wanted to read, one of them is a book that is a theological look at the gospel of Mark. I wanted to read the whole thing because, of course, we're going through Mark and I was able to do that. Another is a very important kind of scholastic book that treats the textual problems that occur at the end of the gospel of Mark and I wanted to read that as well, kind of loading up for our journey through the gospel of Mark. Had a number of other books that I wanted to read. I wanted to complete the biography of John Peyton, one of my favorite missionary heroes, I was able to do that and it had a profound affect on my own heart, my own soul. So there were things like that in my mind, and perhaps a little rest from the constant ministry that usually fills up my life.

What I didn't expect and couldn't have anticipated was that somewhere along the time when I was away, I started to have increased pain in my back and my hip. I'm not going to give you a whole medical history here. But it was pretty much chronic and it was pretty much daily and my precious wife, Patricia, would hear my comments every morning as I would wake up and say, “Well I don't know where that comes from, that's new,” but that's not fun.