Discovering Joy in Our Limitations through a Daily Apprenticeship with Jesus
Zack Eswine

I was interested to read this book because the title caught my interest. The author shares his wisdom from many years of ministry. I was blessed by it and you would be too. In the first part the author talks about our location as pastors. This is the not a physical location on a map. It has to do with the people we serve and the place we serve as pastor.

The first chapter is on desire. We have a dream to be a great pastor. When it doesn’t happen in the pulpit, we look for it elsewhere in ministry. Satan can use desire against us. We want to make a difference for God, but that could turn into making a name for ourselves. You will go through brokenness. We need to learn to wait on God. At times, ministry is nothing like what we thought it would be. “Haste is no friend to desire.”

In Chapter 2, the author moves to the subject of recovering our humanity. No matter what others think of us, we are just human. “I am not the Christ.” Is a common phrase pastors should tell themselves every day. We are not perfect. We glorify God by living with our neighbors and loving them. We can glorify God in the mundane, day to day acts of our lives. Pastors should ask themselves, “Why do you think you should minister like you are not human?”

Chapter 3 is about leaving the home. The way relatives are at home is how we learn. We have learned things that don’t agree with Jesus. Pastors struggle with lust and racism, to name a few, just like everybody else. Even Jesus’s family were hurt by Him when he didn’t understand Him. But He did not stop loving His family. We must not either.

Chapter 4 discusses how pastors are invisible six days of the week. People don’t know what pastors do during the week for them. We are living among the people we serve. We need to be “famous shy” like Jesus, not seeking the spotlight. Jesus lived what he taught. Jesus was in secret what He was in public. His daily routine was about others, not Himself.

Part two talks about then temptations pastors face. We get lost in the day today when we have desires to be great. Chapter 5 is about being everywhere for everyone. We need to repent because we have tried to be everywhere for everyone. We can only go in one direction at a time. The shepherds are good examples that saw the baby Jesus and returned to their sheep.

Chapter 6 is about fixing it all. Pastors fix the broken, injured, and hurting people all around them. But people want us to fix everything, which we cannot do. We want to be fixers but God is the one who can fix everything. We can’t just throw a Bible verse out there to fix things. Words do not solve the problems of the world. We just get louder, but it doesn’t change anything. He goes through a list of things we cannot fix. No matter how we approach it only Jesus can fix it all.

In chapter 7, the author talks about people who are know it all’s. We pastors want to apply our knowledge to people and situations, but what we do can look like we think we know at all. We must be careful not to use the light of the Bible to blind people instead of helping them. Knowledge is not wrong and itself. We must learn to love people with our knowledge. We must not let knowledge destroy those around us.

He titles Chapter 8 “Immediate.” We’re trying to do everything fast but don’t realize this can cause major burnout. Stress is the danger for every preacher. We need to learn patience. Sometimes the best and healthiest thing for us is to learn how to slow down. Trials teach patience. Waiting teaches us to be patient and see what God can do.

In Part 3, the author addresses reshaping our inner life. We must strengthen our inner roots so we do not rely on ourselves to be all things to all people. Our efforts to help people will result in destroying us. Chapter 9 talks about how we should not interrupt God and His ministry to people. We need to realize that are words can only be effective after we have listened. We are not used to quiet. Instead of seeking fame and glory, we should serve the people around us.

In chapter 10, the author talks about beholding God. Pastors learn from God a skill of grace. We help people find God. Beholding God changes the way we work. We seek God and help others to see Him in their daily lives. We learn to become listeners. Pastors stand before the Lord in the silence and learn from Him. We ask for His guidance to understand His Word.

Chapter 11 focuses on finding our pace as pastors. We still have anxieties. We have burdens, sometimes ours and sometimes of those we serve. The author advises us to take one day at a time. So many of us pastors have trouble taking this sage advance. He talks about how God can guide us through the morning, noon, and evening of each day. We can use the times of the day, the morning, noon, afternoon, evening, and night as more manageable blocks of time throughout the day. This chapter was the most meaningful and helpful to me. Like so many, I have trouble managing my days well in finding a pace that fits me.

Part 4 addresses shaping the work we do. In Chapter 12, the author addresses the pastor and caring for the sick. He describes the good and holy kind of touch we can offer those who need it most. Pastors need to be prepared to serve others when death takes on of their loved ones. We must also be ready to pray for the sick. Someday we will be the ones who need to care we offer others.

Chapter 13 discusses care for the sinner. He addresses the improper touches that can happen in church. Pastors must care for the saints, but they must also protect them from sinners. We must also take care of sinners when they are caught in sin. He describes forgiveness and how to move from discipline to forgiveness. We have struggles at every age from temptations and things we must deal with. Pastors need to feel with them in the proper manner.

In Chapter 14, the author addresses what he calls local knowledge. These are the things about the local place we serve that seemingly everyone but us knows. We must have an education in the local place when we are new and unfamiliar. We cannot develop a vision for a place new to us. He discusses passages like Titus that show us how to learn local knowledge. He goes through several local things we must learn as pastors new to a place.

In Chapter 15, the author discusses pastoral leadership. He describes leading meetings without the practical helps but focusing on the attitude of the meetings. I like how he opens his meetings. They are full of wisdom. He also talked about how he has grown in being able to train and enable leaders. He describes pastoral leadership as delegating the things he may want take control of, or that he is tempted to put his personality on. He wants to take his personality out of the most important decisions. It also allows people to be involved in the church and to take ownership of it.

Chapter 16 addresses the romantic realism of pastoral leadership. Does the church need a prophet or king versus a farmer or shepherd? Pastors tend to want to be the hero. But the ordinary life we are called to share with others is just as heroic. He reminds us that the ordinary is where we can find God.

This book is full of pastoral insight. I think it’s a must-read for any pastor out there. The author peppers the book with his personal stories of his life before the pastorate and some of the things that happened during his pastorates. Between these stories is the wisdom he gives to any pastor who needs answers and to hear another pastor’s experience. I enjoyed the sage advice this pastor gives to pastors. I will reap the benefits of his years of wisdom.