“Want some grapes, Eve?”
“No, I think I want a big luscious tomato, smothered in onions, and spiced with some red peppers.”
“Sure thing, Eve, I might have to stroll a couple of hundred paces to get all of that. I’ll just eat this succulent peach while I walk and I’ll be right back.”
I often wondered what they did all day long – Adam and Eve, that is. I mean here they were living a life of abundance; everything provided for.
Day after day all they needed was available in abundance. Beyond a little cultivation and deciding among the choices, there was little they had to do. Of course it involved work but once you fall into a routine, even demanding work fails to stimulate you.
Do you think it might have been boredom that got them into trouble? I think that might have been my problem. Like Adam and Eve, I knew the broad outlines of what God expected of me. I was called by God to be a pastor.
What a thrilling thought to be working for God. Except, when your call results in being a pastor of a modest-size church in a small Midwestern city, the work can become rather tedious. There is the weekly demand for a sermon and worship service. Sunday morning seems to come with appalling regularity, whether you are ready or not.
I know the old joke about only having to work one hour a week, but the congregation seems more than willing to fill in the rest of the hours as well. Two or three nights a week there is some type of committee meeting. During the day there are hospital visits to make, Bible studies to conduct, youth groups to plan for, community work with other pastors, and responding to the inevitable family crisis or personal counseling.
