Fill Me Up So You Can Pour Me Out

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Have you ever felt tired? I mean really tired? Where you just don’t want to do anything anymore? Burnt out? Exhausted? Have you ever felt like the last thing you wanted to do was prepare for your Sunday school lesson, get up early for outreach on Saturday or set up your classroom on early Sunday morning or late Saturday night?

Have you ever felt like you just couldn’t do it anymore? Like there is no one else in the whole world that even cares except you? And, if no one else cares, why should you?

Have you ever asked yourself if anyone would even notice if you didn’t try as hard as you usually do? Who would know or care if you didn’t really prepare for your lesson and just used again an old “go to” lesson you had laying around? Who would really know or care if you only went on outreach for 15 minutes and went home?

Have you ever going to bed late on a Saturday night and wondered if you would even have the energy to be able to get up in the morning and face that rowdy group of kids? Would you really be able to teach them and somehow maintain a tenuous grip on your sanity?

While somehow, the next day, you ARE able to pull yourself out of bed, at the back your head you’re thinking, “There’s no way I can keep on doing this.”

If you have felt any of these emotions then let me be the first to tell you that YOU ARE NOT ALONE! It is called being human and something we all have or soon will experience if you have dedicated a portion of your life to the work of God.

My brother who is now the pastor of our church once told me a story that I go to quite often whenever I start to feel myself slide into negative mindsets. He told me about a conference he was at one time when the power of God fell strongly and the altar call became one of those long lingering moves of God that you just never want to end. He had crawled under the platform and simply soaked in the presence of God until he was completely and utterly saturated.

Eventually, he came out and was sitting limply on a chair when an older preacher came up to him, put his arm around him and begin to impart wisdom. He called him by name and said, “Do you know why God fills us up the way he did for you tonight?” Not really knowing how to respond, my brother remained quiet.

The man of God continued, “He doesn’t do it just so we can feel good or even solely for the purpose of our merely making it to Heaven. He fills us up for the purpose of being able to pour us back out upon others. That’s the plan of God, He fills us up so He can pour us out again.”

Since I’ve heard and understood what that elder meant by those words, I have come to recognize those dry moments for exactly what they are… it is in those moments that I’m empty… I’m poured out. When I feel burnt out and utterly spent I now know that it is because I need to be filled up again. I need a power-packed Holy Ghost service, a long lingering prayer meeting or maybe a conference of my peers where I can be re-inspired. I need a renewing so I can be poured out again to the kids of my church and my community. After all, how can you pour anything out of an empty vessel?

Sunday mornings for a thriving evangelical church is one of the most exciting but also one of the most energy draining days of our week. From waking up early, to setting up classrooms, rolling out the red carpet for our bus kids, putting up the banner, getting out and setting up the bounce houses, making sure the breakfast teams are ready, laying out the the chairs, preparing the lessons, riding the bus, teaching, singing, dropping the kids off, collecting attendance, entering attendance and on and on and on… by Sunday afternoon it doesn’t feel like I have much of anything left. And that’s why I need to spend as much time as I can the rest of the week getting filled up all over again.

I believe as much as anyone in the necessity and power of children’s ministry but despite my passion and belief, I find myself on occasion doing what I do out of rote. Thankfully, God renews and on one such recent occasion, my wife and I went to the Commit Conference in Baton Rouge. There, listening to the likes of Bro. Cornwell who spoke so earnestly about their fleet of 27 buses and the thousands of bible studies he has taught over the years and to Bro. Tony Spell who spoke about the 20,000 bus riders they picked up last year and many others on a variety of topics, reignited the spark!

I went believing in children’s ministry but left even more convinced… I went inspired and left even more so… I was FILLED UP TO OVERFLOWING!

To sum this article up in a single line, if you feel empty or burnt out, there is a simple answer… find a place with God and get filled up all over again!