I have been pondering my life over the past two years, the last 26 months. Ever since we left Gardena and the church and community of people we served there, I have been trying to figure out my life. Moving to Missouri has been quite a journey, but one that I felt was necessary to better serve my marriage and family. I always tell the guys I am training, ‘No job is worth your marriage and family, no job.’ I guess I am a man of my word because a little over two years ago we packed up and left G-town for the Kansas City area of Missouri. This blog is about that journey.
When Debi and I first announced to our three adult children in late September 2020 (via zoom due to C-19) that we were relocating to the Kansas City area of Missouri to be near them and their families, they were excited and elated. We felt welcomed by them and we still are to this day. We give them their space, but we are still close enough to be a blessing and provide support. My only younger sister, a widow of three years (at that time), who had just relocated to Springfield, MO a few months earlier, when hearing this news, put her house on the market and moved to Lee’s Summit where she purchased a beautiful home to be near us. She bought her house before we bought ours. One of the first things that I did when I got here was to help her move into the KC area from Springfield. Little did either of us know that her decision to relocate would platform her meeting and marrying her husband who was a widower, a local pastor, a Chief’s fan, and a genuine man of God, now turned brother-in-law to me.
Debi and I moved in with our daughter and son-in-law and lived with them for four months before we located a suitable house for ourselves. By suitable, I mean a house that Debi would like; a big house with lots of rooms, and a big back yard for the grandkids and dogs to run about and play in, and a nice neighborhood of folks who also enjoy the small lake and trails in our HOA. During the four months that I lived with our daughter, I helped them with their home, doing odd jobs and such, and moving them forward with some of their house projects. It was also nice being close with our two granddaughters who are as delightful as they are beautiful. Debi was still in the process of relocating from LA and had to remain back a few months to get things in order with her job there. I was applying for work, helping out with some of the local non-profits, and getting established in our new church, Crown Pointe Church, in Lee’s Summit, where we attend and support today; that is when I am not on assignment as an interim pastor.
God is faithful, He has provided to the abundance. I later landed a job as a maintenance tech at a local Christian school where Debi previously applied and aquired a middle school science teacher gig. I helped with their maintenance and served as a substitute teacher when needed. At least that’s what I did for a year before picking up a job as a bus driver for the local school district. I tried to be a Hospice Chaplain but I don’t have what they call clinical pastoral education (CPE) units and I won’t take the jab. I could do the job very well, no problem, it’s just that this door will not open for me because of my ‘limited schooling’ and unwillingness to get the vax. I guess my 35 plus years of pastoral experience and my undergrad and graduate degrees don’t help me in this mid-west world. I am both over qualified and under qualified at the same time. While I continue to apply and interview for Chaplain jobs, these same roadblocks seem to manifest themselves. I do construction jobs on the side, drive the bus, maintain our investment properties, help out with the local Christian school with their special projects, and I am an interim pastor on Sundays. That’s five jobs, alas, this is my life; ooh rah.
God has opened up many unique doors for me to meet people and provide pastoral care and council with them. I have embraced the watcher community and strongly believe that we are not long for this world. Perspective is everything and numbering our days, that is, appreciating them as God gives them to us by using every moment to glorify His holy name, is critical for all of us right now.
I have a Bluetooth speaker box on board my bus so I can listen to the watcher podcasts and play smooth jazz while I drive the students to and from school. While I don’t play religious programing while the students are on the bus, I do have some jazz going in the background to establish some ambience for the students as they ride the bus to and from school. I try and be a good witness and continue to pray for them, all of them.
The bus drivers in the district that I work with also can use some Rob Lee love. These are a motley crew of, among other people, grandmas and grandpas who are as ‘tore up from the floor up’ as they are in desperate need of the Savior. Me thinks I found a new mission field. These are good people, some of them believers, all of them need to be, and yet, I am in the lot with them. Many of them would rather do something else, but the bus driver gig seems to be a good fit for those who are either in between jobs, winding down their careers with a retirement supplemental option, or like me, who need the four hours in the middle of the day to do other stuff. I guess this is what it takes to make it out here. To all of my fellow bus drivers, dispatchers, and mechanics who keep the safe transportation of students happening in our district, I salute you. That goes double for the truckers.
Jesus said it this way, “I must do the works of Him who sent Me (His Father) while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” – John 9:4,5
- God has given each of us a certain amount of time to do His work on this earth. Because He is in us and He is the light of the world, than we are also the light of the world because we have His light shining in us. Can you imagine what this world will be like when the Rapture occurs and the light is taken out and the night comes? While we are here, we must do our jobs to the best of our ability, knowing that we will all have to give an account at the end of this ride.
While it’s true there will be a global revival of people coming to faith just after the Rapture, their light will be extinguished quickly as the enemy will move against them without prejudice and the restraint of the Holy Spirit will be gone. We must shine the light while we can, right now! Light up your world folks!
These last two years have been a time of helping people, mainly my family, and getting established out here with our rental properties and our home. In the last 26 months I have managed to, among other things, establish a volunteer position with the local PD as a chaplain where I was recently approved for weekly rides with the various officers. I am currently undergoing a three month training in their ‘citizens police academy’ where locals can be trained and exposed to what police do in the community. I did something similar to this with the PD in Gardena when we first arrived there in the late 90’s. I have been assigned as an interim pastor with our district and I am currently working with a church who recently lost their pastor to cancer. Last year I helped to successfully transition another church 2½ hours from my house from one pastoral administration to another. That church is doing well today; to God be the glory. I was invited by our district to coordinate their School of Ministry campus in the Kansas City area where we train the laity for ministry and the credentialing process that it involves. I teach as well as assign various instructors to certain classes and make sure the teaching and testing is properly recorded and forwarded to Global University via the district. We host one class per month. I have also been invited to teach an adult Sunday School class at our church where Debi and I attend. Debi is on the worship team and she works with the preschoolers twice per month. She is developing more and more lady friends in the church and the school community, which is a great thing for her (and any wife or lady). I have made this house a home and we have enjoyed many gatherings, prayer meetings, Bible studies, BBQ’s, and welcomed new babies into the family, including our most recent, a grandson and granddaughter.
I attended a sectional minister’s luncheon last month. It was wonderful. The room was full of AG pastors and missionaries from all over the KC section. Our presbyter spoke on miracles and the various miracles that God has provided, especially pertaining to the Christmas story; but more so, in our own lives. He shared how he was seeking God for a theme for 2023 and what he got from the Lord was ‘Last Year.’ The pastor clarified that God didn’t mean ‘2022 last year,’ but intimated that 2023 is our ‘last year.’ He’s not one to speak doom and gloom and such, or to have an eschatological overtone in his ministry, but what I heard was prophetic in nature and I believe more relevant than ever. I later talked with him about it and he shared with me that this was new to him as well. Pastors have to be careful how they wield the end times message; but this seems to be God’s leading in these last days for those servants who are listening to the voice of the Spirit. It’s going to be relatively business as usual up until the moment that it’s not, and then, bam, everything will change, in a moment, on a dime.
As for me, every message I am preaching to my congregation is eschatological. I have found it to be more relevant than ever and the people are really enjoying the messages and the hope that comes with them.
This being the case, each of us really needs to be numbering our days like never before and make each one count for God’s glory. I recently posted a blog entitled ‘The Next 100 Days’ where I challenged the brothers (and sisters) to plan on and make the next 100 days, the best 100 days of your life, so far. While I am working on and planning a long term agenda for our family, which includes landing a decent job as a chaplain somewhere, I am becoming more convinced that all things are not equal and that we are on the precipice of a new era in our world’s history. It’s hard to plan long while looking short, but alas, as a watcher pastor and blogger, this is what that looks like. Keep looking up, looking out, and your nose to the grindstone.
Maranatha!
Encouragemen is a blog written by Pastor Rob Lee, recently relocated to Northwest Missouri. He lives with his wife of 33-years, near their three adult children, their spouses, and children (their grandchildren). Pastor Rob is an Ordained Assemblies of God minister, a former Lead Pastor (25 years), police chaplain, and community advocate. He continues to serve, consult, and disciple men of God, including those who are in the ministry.
Encourage Men 
Excellent!
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