“Peter’s promise of the Chief Shepherd’s return assures us that pastors will not be forgotten in some lonely pasture.
One day the bleating of sheep will be drowned out in the trumpet call of God.
One day we will leave our last committee meeting to find ourselves in the company of angels.
One day we will make our last hospital call or officiate at our last funeral and be ushered into that Kingdom where there is no more death or mourning or crying or pain.
One day we will put aside our monthly reports and Sunday bulletins to take up the endless anthems of glory.
One day we will preach our last sermons and lay aside our beloved Bibles to find ourselves awestruck in the presence of Him whose very name is the Word of God.
One day we will set aside the cups and bread for the last time in order to take our places at the wedding supper of the Lamb.
And when that day comes, we will lay down our staffs and take our rest, for the sheep we have fed and led and guarded will be safe at last in the fold of Jesus.
Then we will hear, “Well done!” from the Chief Shepherd whose lambs we have loved.”
–Lee Eclov, Pastoral Graces: Reflections on the Care of Souls (Chicago: Moody, 2012), 169-170.
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