The Pastor’s Son

HOW COME I FOUND MYSELF HERE? He was a father of five, one a prodigal, most of them raised during his service in three pastoral roles. He had been an adjunct professor at a major Bible college. He lost his wife when he was fifty years old after a protracted disease. He was called the great Pastor Jack Sharp. He couldn't predict how the same love and training he gave to his children would produce fantastic results in one case and a heartbreak (even if temporary) in another. Everything had been fine five years before now. Many people thought that he had a scar less and "perfect" family. He had two daughters and three sons, with one of them “in the oven”. His firstborn, a male was a pastor already married. His second born finished first in his class during his MBA and magna cum laude in Law school. He and his wife were active in their church and expecting their second child later in the year. His fourth born finished college and seminary (summa cum laude) in four and a half years, served on the mission field and worked in Germany with the daughters of missionaries. She was a teacher in a Christian school, and was thirty eight weeks pregnant with Pastor Jack Sharp's third grandchild. His fifth child, also a female was rounding off her first year in a Christian college and was very involved in Church work. His "prodigal" child, the third born, was rambunctious, but a faithful church member and evidently Christian kid, until he went off to college to become a pastor, dropped out in the spring of his sophomore year, got into all kinds of unhelpful/unhealthy/unchristian stuff and broke his parents' hearts. He finally married his girlfriend (eloping), became addicted to two illegal substances, and ended up nearly dying last fall when a case of pneumonia (aggravated by heavy smoking and hanging out in smoke filled bars) turned septic and the doctors removed half of his right lung. Few weeks later, his wife took off her ring, left the house, and said that she was "open to other relationships." He was bewildered and devastated. As part of Pastor Jack Sharp's daily bible reading and devotional time, he often prayed for every one of his children and families. Understanding how four could go so far in one direction and another so far in another was a mystery. How do you expect Pastor Jack to feel after serving God for the most part of his life? Your answer would be “sad”, I presume. Yes, it left a pain that never went away entirely in his heart. He was perpetually sad and blue for the remaining part of His life. Disillusionment, disenchantment and a feeling of gloom became the orders of the day in his life. Pastor Jack Sharp was crushed. He died few years later due to a malignant neoplastic disease. No doubt, that man died as an unhappy and unfulfilled man. The prodigal son is now twenty five years old and I pray that God will change his heart and incline it toward Himself. Several cases like this abound in the world today about Pastors' children. Everywhere you turn and whatever you turn on, you see many Pastors' children doing wrong things. Though several Pastors' children are doing well, the de facto states that there are many who are not doing well. Individual difference is as true of humanity as it is of nature. I have asked myself several times why the trend is like this almost everywhere. It is the order of the day in first world nations, second world nations and third world nations. Why are Pastors' Children misbehaving? Why do we have many of them on the wrong side? The answer is simply because Pastors' Children are a set of privileged and blessed children. God ordained and set us apart for His use. We are unique and apostolically blessed for great assignments. This special nature is open to several challenges. This is because the devil naturally attacks any good thing.