Life Changing Moments

We all experience things throughout our lives that change how we live. Moving away from home, going to college, getting your first real job, getting married, having a child and the list goes on of events that change the course of our lives. The funny thing about change is that when someone else is controlling the change it can be much more difficult to adjust; especially if you are a control/planning freak like I am. I guess that is why it was so difficult to commit to God's call on my life to be a minister. I had a beautiful plan for my life mapped out. I was a business professional with talent, an advanced education and a flourishing future ahead. I own a home that my family could comfortably live in for years to come in a town that has been rated as one of the best places to live. Knowing that we are called to glorify God in our lives, I had committed to faithful tithing and lay ministry through the local church.

Now that I have prayerfully committed to God's call on my life and publicly professed the call at church, I have an uneasy peace. I have a peace knowing that God is in control and I am in His will; however, I am still uneasy as I consider all that has to be worked out over the coming months/years. In addition to the call to ministry, I also feel called to go to seminary in preparation for a lifetime of full-time ministry. Eager to begin this new journey, I hope to start seminary in the Fall 2009.

Depending on which seminary I choose, we may have to relocate, sell our house, find a new place to live and a new daycare. Michele will have to find a new job and I may have to leave my job. Obviously, this represents a lot of uncertainty; however, we know that God will not ask us to do anything without providing for our needs.

The bottom line is that we are learning to trust God even more through all of this. If these changes did not scare us, we would not be human.

In Matthew Chapter 4 we find the courage of the first men that God called to preach the Gospel:

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon
called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for
they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you
fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him.
Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee
and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing
their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their
father and followed him.

I hope that we can have that type of courage as we consider all that is ahead of us!