Backrow Baptists

 Growing up in a Southern Baptist church, I always heard jokes about "backrow Baptists" being the backslidden ones. Meaning, (in jest, of course) if you sit on the back row of a Baptist church, you've got grievous sins in your life and you're probably somehow backsliding from the Lord. So you can imagine my surprise when my husband suggested we sit on the back row of church today. (In his defense, other Baptists sitting in the area were being good Baptists in that they were taking up all the aisle seats and perfecting the art of not making eye contact in order to not have to move to a seat-in-the-middle.) So there we were, sitting on the backrow, but not backslidden. (To my knowledge, I'll have to confirm with my husband on that one later. haha)

Very shortly, the service began. The worship music was inviting and on point. After a few songs, in walks the reason I believe God had us strategically placed on the back row today. In walked a woman with her toddler son. I don't know that she was necessarily new to the church - I just know that I've never seen her before. As she walked in and decided to sit one seat over from me (there on that glorious back row), I quickly had two thought lines running through my mind. 

Thought #1 - "Is she backslidden?"

Thought #2 - "Wait. Does she think I'm backslidden?"

JUST KIDDING... the real initial two thought lines I had in my mind were this...

Thought #1 - I'm thankful she's here. She's late, but I can tell she made a huge effort to be here. It's a ton of work to get a toddler out the door and to church all by yourself. I'm glad she's here.

Thought #2 - Girlfriend is going to have quite-the-work ahead of her to get her toddler son to sit still through this whole service. My kids probably wouldn't have made it at that age. I hope she's prepared.

As she sat down next to me, her little boy went leafing through some Bibles sitting on the edge of some seats on the end (Good Baptists don't just sit in seats on the aisles; they also save seats on the end of the aisles too.) She leaned to me to confirm that she was okay sitting there next to me and wasn't taking up anyone else's space. I assured her she belonged right where she was. (As I was still slightly inwardly wondering if she was prepared for all that would entail keeping a toddler still/quiet/compliant/happy during a looooong church service.)

As the worship song set came to an end and pastor got up to bat, he began preaching on work. All work. The work God has for us. Everything being sacred. As he preached, I saw all of His points coming true right before my eyes in real time with this young mom and her son.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention. Along with this mom-and-son-duo came a giant bag-of-treasures. As the sermon began, the mom started digging inside that bag-of-hers and provided her kid with cookies. Then, moved on to pen and paper doodling, a trip to the bathroom, and finally ended with her masterful use of teaching the kid to play with a pen cap. I mean that sincerely. She taught him the knack-of-it, so that he was self-entertained for the remainder of the service. It was mom gold.

Through simultaneous efforts of listening to the sermon, taking notes, and taking mental observations of what was going on next to me during the service today, here's some things I realized about the work God has for all of us:

1. It takes planning. Pastor couldn't have made it through his sermon without preparing and planning for it. The toddler-mom next to me couldn't have made it through the sermon without her giant bag-of-treasures.

2. It takes personal sacrifice. Pastor spoke of personal/family health issues throughout the week that needed attending to in his own life. He personally sacrificed to take care of the ones he loves and sacrificed even more to make sure his sermon was complete this week as well. Being a pastor is a lot of work. The woman next to me sacrificed roughly 45 times in 45 minutes with all the things asked/required of her by her toddler. She personally sacrificed a lot just to be there today.

3. It takes patience. Any man who's a pastor can tell you this is true. God's call requires patience. Also, any woman who's a mom can tell you this is true. God's call requires patience. Patience to get the work started. Patience to keep the work going. Patience to see the work through to the ending. And patience-upon-patience to deal with all the people and demands in the midst of it all. (Can somebody say "Amen" right there?)

Upon reflection, I came home, cooked dinner for the family, and began to think some more about what it was God was pressing into my heart about the work God has for all of us, and here are 3 more things I can add to what's already been said.

1. The work God has for us...It doesn't require a stage. If the work God has for you has a stage included, then by all means, use the stage for His glory. But if it doesn't, by all means, keep serving and doing the work God has mapped out for you. God's work comes with a no-stage-required kind of instruction manual.

2. The work God has for us...It doesn't require recognition. If you get recognition for the work you do, consider it an abundant grace of God. If you don't get recognition for the-day-in-and-day-out-work you do, that's ok. Keep going. Keep doing what God has called you to do. Work for Him and not for men. He sees, and He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him in all they do.

3. The work God has for us...It doesn't require appreciation. If you get appreciation for the work you do, consider it an uncommon kindness, a blessing, if you will. But also remember, sometimes the behind-the-scenes work God calls us to (or even the on-stage work God calls us to), doesn't always pay off in debts of gratitude aimed in your direction. Ask any pastor. Better yet, ask any mom.

All in all, I'm grateful I was able to be among the backrow Baptists in service today. God taught my heart lessons on a variety of levels - all from the sermon, to the worship set, to the mom-and-her-toddler-with-the-pen-cap. To update any of you curious and still reading, the kid did great the entire way through the service up until the very last invitational song. To which, he said pretty confidently, "All done!" and then proceeded to walk confidently out of the building. Lol. (To be honest, I find a hard time faulting him for that though, because some of y'all grown-and-bred adult Baptists do that too.)

With all said, I encourage you to be encouraged in whatever work the Lord has set before you today and this upcoming week/season of your life. Also, I encourage you - put it in your seating rotation to be a "Backrow Baptist" every once in a while, you never know what lessons the Lord may have for your heart. Also, I hear it's a great place to be if you're backslidden already anyway. ;-)