The Navigator's Prayer

I'd like to dedicate this post to my friend and son-in-law, Pastor Delbert Tritsch.

The following prayer is in the form of a poem I wrote not long after the church I was pastoring at the time, Christ the Rock Apostolic of Oxford, MS, moved into our then newly aquired building.

To be a pastor is one of the most challenging and rewarding things I have ever done in my life. Bro. Delbert will no doubt find it the same.

I have every confidence in his ability, because I know his burden. I believe in his calling, because I know his faith. The Greater Faith Tabernacle has placed their trust in the right man as a pastor.

Godspeed Bro. Delbert.

The Navigator's Prayer

The ship on which I'm called to sail does not belong to me, but she depends on what I do to sail her o'er the sea.

I serve her mighty builder, King Jesus, Lord of Hosts. I am her navigator, and I chart where she goes.

'Tis an awesome task, with the choices I must make, for I could bring catastrophe with the smallest of mistakes.

Should I decide to leave the course and sail another way, the travelers who are in my care will be the ones who pay.

And so I look to you Lord, and I pray to ever feel, your Holy Spirit guide my trembling hands upon the wheel.

For I'm the one they look to, as I steer them 'round disaster. I am the navigator, but the travelers call me "pastor."