Job Hunting – the clock is still ticking

So I spent time this weekend job hunting…I think I have about five weeks left…I am under contract until the end of June.

Two years ago if someone told me I’d be leaving pastoral ministry and basically start much of my life over I would not have believed them. At that point, I expected to be a pastor forever. So much I did not know…so blind was I in so many elements of my life. This may be hard to understand, because I do love pastoring, but in many ways it is almost a spiritual relief to be leaving. Stepping down from the pastorate is one of the truer decisions I have made recently…with it has brought the relief and affirmation that “This is right.” I am stepping out on a new journey…one that is more real and more true than I had thought possible. For those who think I am being idealistic or have a false perception of reality, let me assure you that it is the very struggle that lay ahead that let’s me know that it is in fact real. The cliche has been said in movies – words to the effect that it is only in struggle and adversity that we know we are alive. That isn’t exactly what I am saying here, but the impact is the same. The very fact that I do not have to look with rose-colored glasses, that I am seeing things more and more as they really are, the very fact that it is the truth that I am being encouraged to see (good, bad, and ugly) testifies to the trueness and the rightness of this journey.

So here I am, a month away from making a major change, putting out job applications and resumes and hoping the prospective readers will see the validity and the broad skill set it takes to pastor a church – that religious skills do translate over into other areas of life.

My wife is rather nervous about what lies ahead…mostly the unknown. I can’t blame her, I can get a little nervous too if I spend time dwelling on it…

But I am here, at this point, precisely because my faith tells me that the Lord brought me here. I do not know what lies ahead – where I will be working next month – but I am going to keep putting out applications and trusting that what lies ahead – whatever it is – is what our Provider has in store for us.

Sound naive?

I don’t think so – That’s faith.

(I don’t proclaim a good faith, I am just trying to step out and trust Him)

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