Pastor's Corner: Filling the buddy seat

I am a circuit riding pastor ... not on a trustworthy horse but in a well-used, but reliable Toyota Tacoma or Subaru Forester, depending upon the road conditions. Each Sunday, I drive 194 miles to worship with people in my three congregations in rural Montana. I have a lot of "windshield time" driving across the prairies viewing some beautiful Montana scenery. In each season, as I look out upon the land, I see people at work: planting or spraying fields, harvesting wheat, baling hay, feeding animals, plowing or shoveling snow. Through the windshield of a truck, you can catch glimpses of birds,...