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| Spotlights: Where every weekend I highlight a character, real-life person, blog post, book, movie, song, or moment that inspired me sometime that week |
Hola readers!
Today's spotlight is a bit more random then most days because it's more of a character/TV show that I'm spotlighting, but I'm doing it for a reason because my dad is a pastor.
Meet Pastor Frank Hogan, the pastor in the show When Calls the Heart and one of the most realistic TV pastors I've seen in a long time. I LOVE him!
He doesn't like to be called 'pastor', wears 'normal' clothing and is just...well....normal. And he has a past. He's not perfect, and this is why I absolutely love his character! He doesn't sit there and give prayers that are long winded or meaningless, or preach sermons where everyone is utterly bored (unlike most pastors or preachers I see in books and television).
When you think of a pastor (especially one in the early 1900s), you probably don't think 'outlaw' or 'rugged' but he is.
Anyway, why I'm taking the time to spotlight him and the show this Saturday is because I'm more then ready to see pastors in books, movies, and yes in real life, be real and relative to us "normal" people.
I'm a PK and have been almost all my life. I don't remember a time my Dad wasn't preaching or in the pastor's college. I've always seen him as 'the preacher', but also 'Daddy'. He's human, prone to mistakes and sometimes awkward moments (like all of us are). We aren't a perfect family, and not only does he council other people but he needs to be encouraged just as much as the next person.
Pastors are real, living breathing people, but I think we tend to make them 'holier then thou'.
I remember one time about five years ago my whole family went to Walmart and my Dad began talking to this lady who randomly pointed out that he and my mom have six kids. When she learned that he was a pastor, she was shocked. She told him that he looked nothing like one (my Dad is a blue jeans, sweat shirt kind of guy-no tie).
Afterwards in the car me and my family all laughed, joking that a preacher must have a certain 'look'. But they don't, and it makes me sad how some pastors can be so intimidating or give the appearance of 'perfect' to other people.
Yes, some pastors are more theological then some. Some pastors can read Greek or say the whole alphabet in the language. Others have memorized dozens of Bible verses and others pray long prayers and give sermons an hour long.
But no matter what, they all need encouragement. They're not holier then us. They don't pray better prayers then us. They're no closer to God then we are. They're human, fallible and prone to just as much temptation as the next person.
We shouldn't put them as anything but human because when we, (like the people of Hope Valley in the show did), and then later learn that they are indeed human and see a major mistake in their lives, we're angry.
But they're dealing with stuff too. We can't forget that they have families, friends, neighbors. They have lives (Lord-willing) apart from the church.
So anyway, I just wanted to spotlight that-and pastor Frank-this weekend because the show really got me thinking about pastors and how I want everyone to realize that they are human.
Have you seen When Calls the Heart-particularly season three-before? What did you think of Pastor Frank compared to pastors in your own life?
Have a lovely weekend readers!
Past Spotlights:
