I’m no longer a pastor but I haven’t been away from it for so long that I’ve forgotten…

The discouragement,

The battles that I sometimes won and sometimes lost,

The hypocrisy I often felt in thinking that my being a pastor was insane,

The times when I didn’t know what I was doing and pretended that I did,

The criticism that often came from those who I thought were friends,

The 24/7 schedule with work that was never done,

The people who left my church because they “weren’t being fed,”

The blank page late Saturday night and my reminding God about the sermon,

The incredible guilt over my family and my ministry,

The loneliness,

The fear of discovery,

The neurotics who hated me,

The congregational meetings when I was sure it was coming apart,

The hard road of authenticity when everything I did worked against it,

The efforts at humility when people thought more of me than was justified,

The questions about whether I and what I did even mattered…

Well, you know. It goes on and on.

Read more at … http://www.poopedpastors.com/