Expectations are a good thing…most of the time.  I expect certain behavior from my kids.  As a leader, certain things are expected of me.  I wouldn’t have it any other way.  BUT…too often, confused expectations cost us.  We expect “the pastor” to BE THE ONE who visits us in the hospital.  We expect that his prayers get to God faster and more effectively (ok, we know that’s not true, but we act as if it is).  Here is the thing, when we put in all our relational eggs in the pastoral basket, we miss out on fantastic relationships with other believers who can love us better than any pastor can.  Yeah, really.  Believe it or not, some of us “pastor types” don’t have very strong care and concern giftedness. Go figure!  But, many of us have strong equipping gifts, which means we are really good at releasing others’ gifts of care and concern.  So, if we are too busy worrying about whether the pastor is coming to pray with us or visit us in the hospital, we may just miss the amazing love of our small group or other caring individuals.