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Have you hugged your Pastor today?

Our Pastor, Dr. David Clear has said publicly that he's not the "huggy type," so as a church family, we know not to run up on him to crush him in a big bear-hug. In fact, if we tried to engage him in a hug-fest, I think he'd run for his car, and then he'd be tempted step on the gas and aim the car at the huggers! (Pastor Clear, I'm just guessing here.) At any rate, there used to be a public service commercial on TV that said "Have you hugged your kid today? Did you send him on his way, with love-la-la-la-love..." and it repeated itself. So I'm hearing that jingle in my head as I write this post. Have you thanked your Pastor lately? (You don't have to hug him to thank him.)

Norman and I have many Pastors as friends and have heard life-changing sermons all over the country.  Sitting under the sound of all this great preaching has allowed me to collect dozens of quotes that have left influential marks on my heart and mind. Even so, there's no place like home, so most of the quotes that I've jotted down are from our own Pastor Clear. I'll share these with you today, which is the same as passing along the impact, heart to heart.

"Apples of Gold" from Men of God:
"The Christian life is meant to cost us something. It is a life of sacrifice." --Pastor David Clear, MN

"Good people leave things better than they were before they came."--Pastor Brian Nibbe, missionary to Cluj-Napoca, Romania (preached during furlough at First Baptist Church of Rosemount, MN)

"God is not a big part of my life; He IS my life."--Evangelist Dr. Darrell Murphy, MN

"Life is full of reversals, but this must not change our walk with God."--Pastor Jack Trieber, CA

"The cancer that eats joy is worry."--Dr. David Gibbs, legal missionary; preached at North Valley Baptist Church conference in CA-Sept. 2009

"Soul winning tip: Look for those who are looking for God."--Pastor Tim Ruhl, CA

 "Learn to embrace adversity. Walk on dirt and love the desert. There is a wilderness on the way to the promised land."--Pastor David Clear, MN

"I want my life to still be speaking after I die."--Pastor Mike Ray, CA

"May God help us to see people as they could be; not as they are."--Pastor John Stancil, FL

"When making decisions, ask yourself, 'How will this decision look when I stand in the presence of the Lord?'"--Evangelist Dr. James Rushing, preached at Shasta Baptist Church in CA-April 2008 (approximately five months before Bro. Rushing went home to be with the Lord)

"How you view your past will affect your present and your future."--Pastor Mike Johnson, Redding, CA

"You'd better be careful how confidently you move if you're not moving with God."--Pastor David Clear, MN

 "Get your thinker thinking right, and your doer will end up doing right."--Dr. Shelton Smith, Editor at Sword of the Lord Publisher, Murfreesboro, TN; heard at West Coast Sword Ladies' Jubilee, CA

"Jesus taught the disciples about storms by leading them into storms."--Evangelist John Bishop, Murfreesboro, TN; preached in October 2010 at First Baptist Church of Rosemount, MN

"Keep your spiritual eyes open to see needs. Never say (to a person in need), 'If no one else can do it, call me.'"--Evangelist Chris Stansell, preached at First Baptist Church, MN

"When we're complaining, we're really saying, 'God, you don't know what's best.'"--Pastor David Clear, MN

"Remember: God's plans don't have to make sense to us."--Pastor Robinson, missionary to Germany, while on deputation in 2005

"Growth is a by-product of obedience to God."--Pastor David Clear, MN

Mrs. Valerie Clear can hug Pastor David Clear. She's his wife. I won't hug my Pastor with my arms, but I'll hug him with my life. The best hug that you and I can give our Pastors is to "do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God." (Micah 6:8) So, when I hear the preaching, I'm writing it down to follow it; not just to list it. I am grateful for Pastors, their wives and their families. Are you? If so, go and thank them today. (Thank you, Pastor Clear.) And if the Pastor happens to also be your husband, your Dad, your Grandpa, or some other close relative, you can hug him, too.

"A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver." Prov. 25:11

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