Sorry, my assistant screens my calls

 

And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years

 

And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit.

A great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea. Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet

Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them,

Jesus embraced interruptions. He did not allow himself to be protected from interruptions.  Jesus embraced the crazy dude who lived in the tombs, the rich leader of a synagogue, a woman who was beyond the fringe of accepted society (actually several of them), and a pack of unruly kids.  None of which was in His iPad calendar or none of which had been screened by His assistant (OK they tried to screen the kids and you know how well that worked out for them).

 

My dad was a pastor for 60 years.  I have been a pastor/planter for 30 years.  I get it.  There is  tension between being available to people, protecting my time with family, personal study and rest. I want to embrace that tension because living in that tension causes me to trust Him daily for direction and insight.  Trusting Him daily teaches me to discover His peace in the midst of that tension. 

Pastors/planters, no matter the size of your church, embrace the interruptions and don't  structure them out of your life.  Above all, be available to people, even the ones that the rest of the world would ignore, even the ones who aren't in your leadership circle, even the ones who aren't on your calendar for that day and even the ones that haven't been screened by your assistant.  Lots of amazing stuff happens when we are interrupted.