I Don't Belong

Today I attended the funeral service of a friend and colleague in ministry, Fifty nine year old Pastor Rick Shoemaker. He would have turned sixty this Sunday.  Rick pastored the First Baptist Church of New Carlisle, Ohio for thirty four years. While we were not in weekly communication, we did touch base periodically.  At one time Rick was even considering becoming the Associational Missionary for our Association. He was always kind, and gracious.  As you see from his picture, he usually had a smile.

His  memorial service was absolutely packed with family, his church, and many friends and fellow pastors. Those that spoke , spoke passionately about the impact he had made on their lives.  He invested in people! His life, and even in his death, he has reminded this pastor that you really never know the impact or the reach of the ministry that God has place us in, or me in.  A Missionary from Thailand I believe preached the sermon and it was powerful!  Love his thought when he opened to Rick's wife and family and shared that this is not a precious day, but it is a precious thing to the Lord. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. Psalm 116:15.

Buddy Greene in his ballad the Sojourner's Song sings it this way on the chorus:

I don’t belong and I’m going someday, home to my own native land.
I don’t belong and it seems like I hear the sound of a welcome home band.
I don’t belong; I’m a foreigner here just singing a sojourner’s song.
I’ve always known this place ain’t home and I don’t belong.

I don’t belong and I’m going someday, home to my own native land.
I don’t belong and it seems like I hear the sound of a welcome home band.
I don’t belong; I’m a foreigner here just singing a sojourner’s song.
I’ve always known this place ain’t home and I don’t belong
Read more at http://www.lyrics.com/i-dont-belong-sojourners-song-lyrics-buddy-greene.html#UISV4UoMWdqRFaZX.99

I don’t belong and I’m going someday, home to my own native land.
I don’t belong and it seems like I hear the sound of a welcome home band.
I don’t belong; I’m a foreigner here just singing a sojourner’s song.
I’ve always known this place ain’t home and I don’t belong
Read more at http://www.lyrics.com/i-dont-belong-sojourners-song-lyrics-buddy-greene.html#UISV4UoMWdqRFaZX.99

Fifty nine has made me once again consider my own mortality.  I will not live on earth forever.  May the Lord somehow use this weak vessel of clay for His Glory through the preaching of His Word. Lord may I be found faithful.