Let’s look at a couple of guys here. First, Eli: 1 Samuel 2: 12, 22 + 23;
3: 13 + 14. And Samuel: 1 Samuel 8: 1 – 3.

Eli and Samuel had some things in common. First of all, they both were involved in careers of church leadership. Much like being the Pastor of a church, or a professional minister today. It was their full time job.

But as we just read, another thing that they had in common were children that were out of their control. Eli and Samuel were both pretty bad fathers.

Unfortunately, this is too often the case with professional church workers today. Like Eli and Samuel, many church leaders today are too heavily involved with helping other people, that they neglect their own families. They are away from home so much, either at the church or meeting with someone in distress that they fail to even see the warning signs that their children are in trouble, or even out of control.

No it is not a healthy situation. It seems hypocritical for a person who works to keep people from trouble, can’t even keep their own kids out of it.

Being in such a leadership position is difficult. It is very stressful. In fact, I once saw a report listing the most stressful careers. Right behind the #1 stress job of Air Traffic Controller, was #2: Church Pastor.

As a full time minister, I can say that this is true. It is also true that some of the stress is self-induced. We often times push ourselves too hard. We don’t know when to stop working. We are driven by the burden of helping people. We don’t know how to say “no!” 40 + hour weeks are the norm. More like 50 plus! I will admit to having pulled some 80 hour work weeks. No, I (or any other ministers) don’t get overtime…

When you do such things, something is going to suffer. For Samuel and Eli, and for many other ministers today, it is their families that suffer.

Pray for your Pastor today, and for all ministers. Pray that they will keep a good balance between their work and family responsibilities. Pray for their stress management, that they will have energy in their work. Pray for their emotional and physical health. Pray for their families, that they will survive the stress of the minister’s work. Write or call them today with some words of encouragement, and let them know you are praying for them. - Richard