I was feeling all warm and fuzzy about being a sage until I looked up its definition. A sage is a profoundly wise person; a person famed for wisdom; someone venerated for the possession of wisdom, judgment, and experience.

Profoundly (me, profound, at anything?), famed, venerated (to regard or treat with reverence), wisdom?  The only quality I identify with in this list is experience and I have 35+ years of that!  In fact, during my first year of college, a nationally known preacher told us the only difference between him and us was experience.  When I asked a professional photographer how long it would take until my photos were any good, he said “around 500 rolls of film” (pre-digital era). 

Now I’m on the other end of the spectrum and younger pastors are asking me how to develop sermons, lead, manage themselves and others, what’s hard and easy about ministry. I am in my sage phase.

And though there have been more pages turned in the book of my life than remain to be turned, I’m enjoying this phase.

It’s my prayer that God will use me as he did those who influenced my life as a young pastor!

Pastor Mark