Saul hunted three days for the donkeys. It is amazing how slow time can move, when you are not coming up with what you expected out of life. No doubt, many of you know of the ministry of the television preacher, Dr. D. James Kennedy. For many years, he has been the pastor of the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church. There are at least five families here this morning that have worshiped there. He is a great preacher and theologian in the Reformed tradition.
Tangentially, I might add, that back in 1971, I sat in a small room alone with him, discussing which seminary I should attend. That was a very memorable occasion. A book was written about the story of his church entitled, The Kennedy Explosion. He had an unusual beginning: following graduation from Columbia Theological Seminary, he accepted a call to a small Presbyterian church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He inherited an active congregation of forty-three. At the end of his first year, his church had decreased to seventeen!
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In the book, he tells of that brutal moment when he got up enough courage to face up to what was happening. He went for a long walk on the beach and, in prayer, confessed that he was concerned about his ability to nurture a church. Kennedy recalls that day in his life as one of total despair. After all, there had been a lot of preparation, and years of study and training, and there were no real options. He had a wife and a small child to support.
He came out of training "like a thunderbolt," gave it all he had, and his church nearly evaporated under his nose. He says that it is a terrible thing to go through all of that intense training and then discover that you haven't got what it takes to keep a church alive. This is what he had to admit that day, as he walked along, talking with God in prayer. Several years later, Kennedy came to the seminary I attended, and though I had graduated, I came back to hear him. In sharing his story, he commented on that particular period in his life, and described it as being one in which he was hot, dry, and donkeyless.
In commenting on that crisis moment, when he had to own up to all of his inadequacy, he said that he just walked the beach, day after day, with deep feelings of exasperation and fatigue. He just could not figure out his circumstances. The call of God was upon him; it was real enough, but he could not pull off being a pastor. It was such a confusing time. There seemed to be no easy answers. He wanted to know what the Lord was up to, and yet there were no clues. It was all the more distressing when the church could not make his paycheck, which precipitated another crisis.