For the past year and a half, I have walked beside a pastor who has felt called to leave the church world and minister to people by feeding them. With support from others, ourselves included, Jordan has founded a non-profit ministry named “The Smoking Pastor Project.” A former children’s pastor, he has transitioned into the unknown by serving food, primarily to those in need as a result of homelessness, natural disasters or other burdens they encounter on a daily basis. His goal is to become the largest provider of pre-cooked, pre-packaged protein rich meals to food pantries and the community at large. That’s a big mission!
As a person who loves smoking things myself, I thought it would be interesting to meet and help encourage Jordan through his transition. It has been a great journey with him. Even with the recent floods in central Indiana, Jordan has helped the Red Cross and other agencies that intervene when crises strike. In fact, over the period of several days, Jordan served more than 8000 meals in our own community to victims of the flood and first responders. Janet and I are proud to support his effort.
One of the things that I really appreciate about Jordan, even as he is one or two generations behind me, is the fact that he can weave the word of God into everyday events, much like I try to do with these posts that I have now written for more than 15-1/2 years. While he desires to “craft smiles one bite at a time”, he brings everyday wisdom to his ministry as he serves fantastic meals.
As Jordan’s ministry has blossomed, and he has become more well known, primarily in the Midwest, the need for additional food suppliers, larger equipment and a greater team to assist him is more urgent than ever and he is experiencing constraints that are retarding the growth of the ministry. Still, Jordan has been blessed in many ways. He has a fantastic family, people who love and care about him and the most important message one can preach – the good news of Jesus Christ.
Recently, Jordan was pulling a large smoker through Tennessee. In the barbecue world, it is common to name your smoker. He happened to have “Jolene” attached to his truck. Fortuitously, he has been given the use of Jolene to handle very large cooks. And what did he pass? Dolly Parton’s truck stop… Of course, he stopped, filmed a short human interest piece and left a tribute on Dolly’s wall to the owner of the smoker. It was wonderful!
That led to another bit of wisdom from Jordan. I love it when the Spirit just touches someone in such a way as to be undeniable. Jordan started talking about the need to strap equipment down when you are on the road – to avoid it being damaged or jarred loose when you hit bumps along the way. In fact, he couldn’t recall a time when he regretted strapping things down. But he could recall several times he neglected to tighten the straps and later regretted it.
As is his custom, and mine, Jordan went on to compare his travels to our faith journeys. In our lives we must be sure to anchor ourselves to Christ and before each day starts, we have to make sure that we are safe and secure in the word of God. We should start our days with prayer and never be too busy to forget this important step in our daily lives.
Jordan went on to tell his audience that he has never regretted praying before a decision; or spending time in God’s word. He is also an advocate for continuing to ask God if he is on the right track and headed to where God wants him to go. Whenever life gets bumpy, and it will, Jordan reminds us that if things aren’t anchored properly, they start to move – and that’s not a good thing. Your priorities move, your attitude moves, your relationships move and even your faith can get tossed around.
Jesus never promised us a smooth road. Maybe the answer isn’t praying for fewer bumps. Perhaps we just need to make sure that we are securely anchored before we hit life’s bumps. So before you start your day and leave the driveway, make sure your faith is strapped down. Stay in prayer, stay in the word and stay close to Jesus. We will never regret being anchored in our faith when the road gets rough.
Our verse for tonight comes from the New Testament book of Hebrews. The author of this book, presumed to be Paul, but in all honesty, we don’t know for sure, tells us, in Hebrews 6:18-19, “God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.”
My encouragement this evening is that God is our refuge. As long as we are anchored to Him, we are secure. My prayer is that we all will remember to check our spiritual lives and make sure that we are strapped in and ready for anything that comes our way. Stay close to Jesus. Thanks, Jordan, for a great message today. And to all of you, have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…
If you would like to be inspired by Jordan and his ministry, you can check him out on FaceBook at The Smoking Pastor or on his website, smokingpastorproject.com. You’ll be blessed…