old enough to be trusted

I had an interesting discussion with the girl who cuts my hair. I refuse to call her a hair stylist, I prefer “barber”, but she would probably be offended. She is from Russia and since I have been there, she likes to talk to me about how life is there, as compared to America. This morning, she told me that people who work at churches in Russia have to be old. Younger people are not trusted because they don’t have enough life experience. She referred to the movie “Gran Torino” in which a young priest is mistrusted by the main character, for the same reason.

Got me to thinking: Am I old enough and seasoned enough to be trusted by most people? I certainly recall the days when people asked if I was the Youth Pastor or when I had to grow a mustache to look older. Don’t have that problem anymore. But do I present old enough and mature enough to gain the trust of most people I am working with? I hope so.

It also made me think about how short the season of effective ministry is in our country. For too many people, you can’t be too young and you can’t be too old. The perfect age is, I would guess, somewhere around 35-45. I probably have about 15 more total years left to work vocationally in the ministry, but truly maybe only 5 years or so before most folks think I am out of touch. Wow. I plan to work hard to stay in touch.

In a few years, prop me up, and I’ll do my best to be trusted.