During past couple of days, I was able to finish up few books.

The first one was: The Girl who kicked the Hornet’s nest. Waste of Time. I had to force myself to finish the book.

The second one was: The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges. This should be required reading for all Christians, especially the ones who are in the process of going through some kind of “Discipleship” program in a local church. Wish I had known the work of Jerry Bridges earlier. In fact, Mr Bridges parked his car right next to me when he received D.D. at WTS back in 2005. Could have gotten his autograph. But seriously, this was one of those books that you highlight every sentence.

The third one was:

Have you read this? Probably not. I remember seeing this on WTSbooks.com, but come on, why read the story of an “ordinary” pastor when I myself am one? Just because he’s D.A. Carson’s dad? (FYI: D.A. Carson is a well known Bible scholar).

Few weeks ago, I came across C.J. Mahaney’s sermon “Ordinary Pastor” from Resolved Conference. And when Mahaney quoted from this book, (in fact, his whole sermon was based on this book), that’s when I thought about getting it.

The title says it all. The story is about a nameless pastor who served in a bilingual, bicultural (French-English) ministries near Quebec, Canada (in that sense, it was remarkably similar to Korean American context). He pastored couple of small churches and resigned when he was in mid 50′s. Then he worked for Canadian government (tent-maker) and continued to help out a local church where he was attending as a member. Nothing stands out. Nothing….yet he was faithful servant of Christ. Faithful to the end.

D. A. Carson does amazing job describing his own dad’s life. This was not “this is how I remember my dad.” Rather, being a world class scholar as usual, he sorted through thousands of mails & journal entries that Tom Carson wrote in his life time (in the context of his church, family, denomination) and reconstructed his life from a church historian’s perspective. Amazing…

We live in a culture where “ordinary=depressing, if not ‘cursed’”. That’s why so many Americans gather around the dinner table and watch “celebrity gossip.” We hate our lives because it’s so ordinary and mundane. It’s black and white. It’s no 3D.

In this social setting, what does it mean to be a Christian? Or to me, what does it mean to be a pastor, especially a “reformed” pastor? Usually, it means you will be pastoring a congregation less than the size of 150 (A 150 will be a rather established one! as Witmer once said). It means, many of our lives will be like Tom Carson’s whether you like it or not. In that ordinary life, we are called to be faithful to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

As a pastor, I’m going through what Tom Carson went through (and so many others). The church seems to be stagnant with no prospect of “revival” any time soon. Some might say, “Pray more, Trust God.” Yes. But you don’t understand. It’s not that I’m not doing my job. But I’m limited by my own limitedness and circumstances. Then discouragement sets in. Then…despair. That’s why Tom Carson resigned from active pastoral duty. That’s why many people (whether you are a pastor or a Christian) quit.

The book was monotone until the very last page. Until D.A. Carson’s magnificent pen described Tom Carson’s most ordinary death in the most extraordinary way.

Tom Carson died alone in his death bed.

“Tom Carson never rose very far in denominational structures, but hundreds of people in the Outaouais and beyond testify how much he loved them. He never wrote a book, but he loved the Book. He was never wealthy or powerful, but he kept growing as a Christian: yesterday’s grace was never enough. He was not a far-sighted visionary, but he looked forward to eternity. He was not a gifted administrator, but there is no text that says, “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you are good administrators.”…….His own ecclesiastical circles were rather small and narrow, but his reading was correspondingly large and expansive. He was not very good at putting people down, except on his prayer lists. When he died, there was no crowds outside the hospital, no editorial comments in the papers, no announcements on television, no mention in Parliament, no attention paid by the nation. In his hospital room there was no one by his bedside. There was only the quiet hiss of oxygen, vainly venting because he stopped breathing and would never need it again. But on the other side of all the trumpets sounded. Dad won entrance to the only throne room that matters, not because he was a good man or a great man-he was after all a most ordinary pastor-but because he was a forgiven man. And he heard the voice of him whom he longed to hear saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of your Lord.”

That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? What Jesus has to say. Not what people had to say.