This weekend was the fifth anniversary of my Induction at Colchester Baptist Church. Time has flown by!

Next year will be the 20th anniversary of my Ordination. Time has flown by!

So as I am in an anniversaryish mood, I wondered what advice I would give the newly ordained me if I could borrow a Tardis and nip back in time…

• 9 o’clock is the watershed: phone calls before 9 o’clock in the morning or after 9 o’clock in the evening are not usually good news.
• Don’t respond hastily to criticism: weigh it, sift it and ask for grace. God might be trying to say something to you and this may be the only way he can get your attention!
• Greeting people ‘on the door’ afterwards requires you to be an octopus (to shake all the hands), and elephant (to remember everyone’s names) and a woman (to multitask). Or you could get someone to help you.
• Emails will be very useful in the future, but don’t imagine that by sending an email you have communicated successfully.
• Computers will be incredibly useful to you, but keep them as your servants not your master. (They will always crash at the most inconvenient of moments.)
• It’s always a good idea to check your flies before you go into church.
• Don’t forget dry underpants when packing for a service of Believer’s Baptism.
• You won’t be able to please everyone: seek to please the One instead.
• God gave you two ears and just one mouth for a reason.
• Everyone has already heard the story about the little girl who said “I know the answer’s Jesus but it sure sounds like a squirrel to me.”
• Encouragement is a better motivator than guilt.
• This too will pass.
• You’re not in charge.
• Always check the bread before Communion (see here for reasons why)

Be blessed, be a blessing.