Last Thursday, after a morning and afternoon of ministry, I finished preparing my sermon and left work around 4 pm. I casually walked out of the church. When I went out the church's back door, I could see the sea to my right from 2 to 4 o'clock. I enjoyed it for a while. But after the door closed, I immediately started looking for my church keys. They weren't in any of my pockets. I must have taken them with me, but they weren't there.

After a few moments of panic, I found the key packet, clutched tightly in my left hand and the book. I chuckled and walked back to my parked car, realizing something I was about to share with you.
During this brief and hilarious incident, I thought to myself. I realized that I might be holding on to things so tightly, or taking them for granted, that I might forget to be present to myself, and that I might be anxious or complaining.

Even so, I remember going to a pastors' conference a few months ago and a senior pastor told me he was jealous of me because I had everything. Well, I can't even begin to fathom the scope of everything, so what is he referring to? I interpreted it as a compliment, but a week ago, two senior pastors about 10 years ahead of me said something similar. I wonder if it was because I needed encouragement.
They looked at me and said yes. At your age, they said, you can still do anything with confidence. I thought it was because you lose strength as you get older. But looking at it from another angle, I wondered if there was something in the eyes of those who have gone before me in life and ministry. In other words, we were given the opportunity to think that each of us has strengths that we don't see.
From my point of view, even though I envied my elders for their age, wealth, and stability, I wondered if they took what they had for granted. As the song “Grace” says, we don't take our lives for granted. The dock I reached in this voyage of thought was the “peace” of knowing that the grace given to me today is enough for me.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you (John 14:27).

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)