Callings, Careers & Questions.

"You must wait and listen for the sound of the genuine that is within you. When you hear it, that will be your voice and the Voice of God."

- Howard Thurman
American author, civil rights leader, and theologian (1899-1981)

Waiting sucks. I've always said that I'm the most patient with people, the least with everything else. And this past year, waiting for an answer on calling and career has been a difficult one. How does one stay sane when waiting and listening for the "Voice of God" when the answers come in coming in second for job after job in careers you thought were your calling.


I have believed that my calling was in ministry. Now through a series of disappointment in finding a position to utilize my skills at a church, I'm grasping for truth in the wreckage of a life of service. In a down economy, church jobs are few and far between. And my other field of expertise, technology, is littered with unemployed applicants with more recent job experience, albeit similiar to mine.

Left with a horrible paying, yet ultimately fulfilling, non-profit job at YouthCare as a Life Skills Coach and Youth Counselor, my hopes in finding a career are again in the balance, while many questions remain. Do I continue to search for positions in ministry or technology? Do I work and wait for a ministry opportunity to plant my own church down the line? Do I "settle" for the fact that my ministry is better served as a lay person with a Masters in Theology? Do I enroll in school to persue teaching?


Teaching is where my future could be. Others have mentioned they have seen the gift of teaching in me. Is that the Voice of God speaking through them? Have I ignored those pleas to teach long enough? My current position teaching Life Skills classes has ignited a spark towards the craft of teaching within. A lot of school in prerequesite classes and tests remain. The time of waiting and listening has almost come to an end. It's now time to act. Although I'm still listening.

"God, I abandon myself into your hands. Do with me whatever you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you. I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures. Into your hands I commend my spirit. I offer it to you with all the love that is in my heart. For I love you, Lord, and so want to give myself, to surrender myself into your hands, without reserve and with boundless confidence. Amen."

- A prayer of Charles de Foucauld

The Blueprint

You were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." - Galatians 5:13-14

The words above are citing an Old Testament text in Leviticus where God is telling Moses a huge laundry list of laws. You know, back when God spoke to those who believed in God. I'd be nice to have that open of communication with God in today's world, but we have iPod's, which is nice.

This law is more familiar because Jesus pimped it in the New Testament book of Matthew after he was asked by a religious leader which was the most important commandment. Jesus answered that loving God with everything you have was the most important, following that up with the gem above coming a close second.

I love these verses. It's like Jesus is giving us cliff notes to the Bible, it's laws and teachings, as well as a blueprint on how to live our lives. Humankind most often doesn't follow the cheat sheet laid out by God. But it's comforting to know that in the end, if you love God and those around you, you are following God's #1 and #2 laws. Not bad for something that is human nature to do. Love others. Your neighbor may be different, believe in different values, and have political differences. But God calls us to love that neighbor. Hugs not drugs, kids.

A prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy. O God, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love; for it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.

"I will not fear."

"My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end ... But I believe the desire to please you does in fact please you. I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you will never leave me to face my perils alone."
- Thomas Merton, from Thoughts in Solitude


Every day I pray that I will be used for God's will. This is a heavy concept to some, but I have faith that God placed me in the hear and now for a greater good. Every one gets lost, confused, and afraid. Merton's quote here reminds us that God is with us in the hard times.

This has been a difficult year for me and our family. But we are living through it. And we believe that we have lived through this weary road full of perils for a reason and will come out stronger because of it. Because in the end, I still have faith.

greenlake super group suggestions.

Like I mentioned in the intro email for our EastLake Group... I believe Revolutions Espresso & Bakery would be a ideal location to meet due to it's size and fact that we could get loud & crazy without the baristas caring. Revolutions is located in the bottom floor of The Greenlake Condo building.

Please start the discussion on where you'd like to meet and what book you'd like to study in the comments link below. And if you're shy, just reply to my original email and let me know your thoughts.

Dates:

Wednesday 14 October

Wednesday 21 October

Wednesday 28 October

Wednesday 04 November

Wednesday 11 November

Wednesday 18 November

OFF for Thanksgiving

Wednesday 02 December

Wednesday 09 December

Wednesday 16 December

back in black.

This has been a crazy past year and a half, with emotional highs and lows that I never thought I'd see. So I've decided to start writing again my thoughts in devotion and theology of life, love and faith. Today, we start with a simple verse.

Pilate asked him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice." Pilate asked him, "What is truth?"

- John 18:37-38

The best part about the truth Jesus is speaking about is that God's Spirit of truth lives within us as the Holy Spirit (if you want to learn more, please read Acts 3:1-10). Jesus throughout his time as a human on earth was continually misunderstood, especially when Pilate and others were compelled to call him "king."

But the part that we take as comfort is that Jesus says here that "everyone who belongs to the truth" will hear God's voice if they listen. This means that if you have faith in God, that God will speak to you in that faith. God's voice can come through in our lives in many ways (which we won't get into now), but take hope in that the Spirit of God is with you. Are you listening?