As many of you know I have been on a hiatus from paid ministry for the last 4 1/2 months. The questions I hear most often concerning this are, "what happened?" and "what are you doing now?". I'm not sure I can answer either of those with great accuracy or authority, but since Shawn Grant wants me to blog I thought I'd give it a try. :-)What happened? The end of my service as Youth Minister of Dade City Christian Church was for the most part a mutual decision, ultimately decided by financial circumstances. The conversation went something like, "Hey we love you and your family but can't pay you," followed by my reply, "OK, I guess I'll see what else God has for me to do." Not exactly the makings of a Lifetime movie, though there were and are tearjerking moments whenever you part company with people you've spent nearly every day with over 5 years.
Shortly before we wrapped things up in Dade City, I found a church within driving distance of my house that was looking for a preacher. Everything about the situation seemed to be the perfect fit for me, and every step along the way in the interview process seemed to confirm God's leading for both us and them. The day of the big vote came, and the conversation went something like, "You're exactly who we've been looking for, but apparently not everyone in the church trusts our leadership, so we can't hire you," and I said, "OK, I guess I'll see what else God has for me to do."
Since that time, prayers have been lifted and more resumes have gone out, but it seems clear that what God has for me to do is wait. That is to wait for the right time, place and ministry opportunity to reveal itself in the way He has prepared, and also to wait on tables. A few weeks ago I went in to a local Chili's Bar & Grill, and after months of ministry rejection, I was pretty much hired on the spot due to my previous 3 years of serving experience at a restaurant I worked at almost 10 years ago that is no longer even in business.
For the sake of being brief (and to prevent the building energy in my kids from exploding into a house trashing) here are a few of my recent observations on my life circumstances:
- God ALWAYS provides the right thing at the right time for His righteous purpose. ALWAYS! I don't understand it, but I see it.
- I was made to serve people. My people pleasing nature combined with knowledge of what people need will allow me to do nothing less than serve them, whether in ministry or at tables, and I love it.
- I secretly wish I was brave enough to always live in a state of desperation, where I truly relied on God for answers every day. Don't tell my wife, but I sort of enjoy having no money, the threat of foreclosure on our house, and the mindset that all our stuff is expendable. It feels much more like truth and it's much easier to see what matters in life.
- Waiting tables is significantly easier than ministry, sometimes with better pay and benefits, but life is too short to only do what is easy or just enough to get by. A passage I've been considering a lot lately is Acts 6:2, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables." I can't wait to have the opportunity to again commit all the time and energy of my career towards the word of God.
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