"I'm glad I have been a church minister!"

"I'm glad I have been a Church minister!" Did I say that? Shock horror! Here I am looking forward to retirement so much so that my Skype mood indicator has "26 Sundays to go" and after tomorrow it will read "25 Sundays..". Every week that I have been a minister I have felt like resigning. I began in ministry uneasy with the traditional teachings of the Church. I have lived in ministry questioning these. I have moved to a very "on-the-edge-of-being-Christian" spiritual place where I prefer to call myself a follower of Jesus. I have been and am continually frustrated by the traditional priorities of the Church. The institution, the buildings the "politics" often turn me off! I have a really secular ministry. And yet... I said that?
Last Monday my wife and I were having a quick lunch at a food court in a mall in town. We were talking about the events of the weekend, commenting on the various food outlets, I was "people-watching" (A favourite pastime) and we were chatting about retirement.  It was in this context that I blurted out, "I'm glad I have been a church minister."  As I look back on the variety of experiences I have had, I would not have had them in any other job. I look back at the variety of people whose lives I have been involved in. No other career would have led me to those encounters. I have been able to help instigate a Habitat for Humanity affiliate, a night shelter trust, some innovative community groups and events, our drop-in centre and our Space 2B with the life enhancing groups attached to it. I have travelled the country with my family in a caravan visiting a great variety of locations. I have been chaplain to the fire service, a brewery, a newspaper, and an ambulance service. I have been involved critical incident work in a bank, a scrap metal yard, a concrete prefabricator, a road contractor, an airplane workshop, a pistol club, a wool scouring plant and fire stations in various locations. Today I had morning tea in a race horse stable, rode a tractor and talked to horses. I could go on.
If I was a plumber or a social worker my life would never have had the great variety of experiences I have had. More importantly, I would never have had the in-depth encounters with such a great variety of people and enjoyed their friendships. ( e.g. I visited three fire stations yesterday afternoon and came away from each feeling really privileged to have had the conversations and encounters I had.) I doubt I would have been able to look back and say with the same sense of satisfaction, "I have made a difference in people's living."  It has been hard. I have been like a square peg in a round hole. It has been (at least for me because of my personality) an incredibly busy and stressful existence. But I can say looking back, "I am glad I have been a Church minister." It has been a hell of a journey... so far.
Having said that, in six months time, I will be glad to preach my last sermon, walk off the church platform, clean out my Church office, return the key to the appropriate church elder and walk away to different life adventures as a really retired Church minister and still a follower of Jesus.