Leap of Faith

When we got married, I looked for a job for at least a month before I even got a phone call. Finally, a woman called asking me to work in the nursery at a church on Sunday mornings, Monday evenings, and Wednesday evenings. The pay was pretty good for the job and it was the only job I had been offered up to that point. The only problem was that the church wasn't OUR church. This meant that I wouldn't get to have fellowship with the church that my husband has learned a lot from for a few years with people that have helped him mature in his faith. It also meant that I wouldn't get to attend any church or Sunday school very often. Another thing was that I wouldn't have as many opportunities to be involved in church ministries. If you know me at all, you know that this isn't the best scenario for me, but at the time, it was the only one we had to choose from, so I took the job.

I've really enjoyed working with the kids in the nursery. I've also really enjoyed my other job working with elderly people in their homes. However, we need more money to get out of debt, health insurance, and I need to be involved in church/ministry. So, when we got a call a few weeks ago about a paid, full-time ministry opportunity for me, I got really interested. I would get to work with the youth group and help the youth get more involved with the rest of the church. However, the church wanted me to also be like an associate pastor who is preparing to be a lead pastor someday... um... I don't know if I'm quite up for that kind of responsibility. I told them I'd pray about it and talk to JJ and see what he thinks. JJ was super supportive of my desire to be in church and in ministry. But he also wanted to make sure I was interested in this opportunity for the right reasons. Did I really want to be a youth pastor/associate pastor? Did I really feel like God was calling me to do full time ministry right now? Or, did I just want to do some kind of ministry and be involved some how? Were there other ways to fulfill that desire where I am right now? Have I heard God telling me anything regarding this position? If not, what was the last thing I heard God tell me He wanted from me?

My answers: not really, not sure, YES, yes, no, and "go to China and marry JJ"

I pretty much made up my mind that the youth pastor position wasn't right for us right now before bedtime, but I wanted to go ahead and sleep on it before I called them back up and said no. But it did get us to talking about our current situation. The things we were sure of were that there are ways for me to get involved in ministry and that I didn't have to do anything extremely drastic to do it. However, it would take one change. I really need to quit my job as a nursery worker. The thing is, it pays pretty well and we could really use the money. But, we could still be even more careful with how we spend our money. Right now, we waste money on eating out and just spending a few bucks here and there on stuff like pops or candy. We also make too many trips to see family. If we cut out the eating out and the extra candy, we'd save probably $100 a month, and probably loose a few pounds of extra fat. And if we took turns between parents and only saw one set per month, we'd probably save another 100 bucks a month. That would take care of most of the money we'd be loosing from my job. And, then I'd also be free to work more hours with the elder care job without having to work during church times.

It's definitely a leap of faith. We're trusting that God will give us the discipline to use our money carefully and that He will provide us with the rest. But He has already shown us that He will take care of us. I gave my notice at the nursery and the next day, my other job called to offer us very affordable health insurance even though I haven't been working quite long enough to qualify (I didn't even realize they offered it). Now that I've given my notice, I've been brainstorming of ways to get involved at OUR church. Maybe the worship team, but it seems like there's already more than enough help with that. Maybe get more involved with the youth, but they also seem to have enough help. Maybe I'll just have to sit back for a little while and watch for an opportunity that no one else has seen yet. No matter what, I know God wants me to get involved and join this little part of His family and He will bless us through it.

2 out of 3's not bad

the weekend was tons of fun. the preaching was inspiring. the fellowship with the kids and other sponsors was encouraging. the music... not so much. the preacher spoke out of Hebrews 4:12-

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

"living" comes from the word zoe which means life. "active" comes from the word energes which means energy. so, the Word of God is our life and energy. when we neglect it, its like starving yourself. it's good to have reminders occassionally, because i've been forgetting to eat and have been starving.

the kids were so much fun and the other sponsors were too. there were two other women sponsors. they were both moms of a couple of the teens. one of them thought it would be fun for us to ambush the guys with water guns when they got back from basketball. she was so right! we asked the guy at the front desk to call our room when the guys came in so we could be ready... and he DID! how awesome is that!? we soaked them as they came out of the elevator while trying to contain all our giggles and squeals so we wouldn't disturb the people in the room with the "do not disturb" door hanger. all the guys came up except jj and the youth pastor, tim. aparently, jj hurt his leg and so they dropped the guys off and went to walgreens for bandage to wrap it with. so, i called to make sure he was okay... and to find out when they would be back (so we could be ready for them). i'm such a good wife. i had the feeling that they knew what i was up to, so we staked out, not just the elevators, but the stairs too. however we got distracted and all ended up back at the elevator. when we heard it ding, we all got very excited, but i saw tim walk out of the stairwell just in time to tell the girls not to shoot the person that was about to come out of the elevator, who happened to be the guy from the front desk. tim told the guy what we were up to and asked him to tell us that we were disturbing other guests and that if we didn't stop we would be kicked out. we're just a nice little group of pranksters. it's all in love. jj was okay, even though he has a bit of a limp still. a banana helped the cramping a little. we had a blast.

well, the music wasn't really that wonderful. they had a group from nw arkansas lead it. they were youth themselves. some of their issues will work themselves out with maturity, but it was really hard to keep a straight face sometimes. the guitars and drums were fairly good, but the vocals were just... well, the leader guy was probably 15 or so. he had a decent voice and fairly good pitch with the occassional typical teenage boy squeak. but he sang with this awful, obviously fake british accent. i mean, come on kid! you're from rogers. you're not fooling anyone. and then there was the girl. she was 16 and sang about as well as jj. for those of you who don't know what that is like, ask the howling dogs. i did okay about not wincing too much, until tim lost it and laughed a little. that made me laugh. which made jj laugh (he didn't understand what we were laughing about since he was blessed this weekend with tone deafness, but he thought it was funny that we were laughing), which made another guy laugh. fortunately, it was more like giggles all at different times, so we weren't caught.

anyway, we had a great time. i was encouraged and inspired and got to know people. thank you God for bringing me closer to you once more.

let's hit the road...

this weekend, jj and i are going with the church youth group to a conference. i'm kind of excited because, jj said there's going to be great preaching and we don't really get that at our church. there's a lot of good things that are going on at our church, but the preaching isn't one of them. on sunday mornings, i'm usually trying to either stay awake or not laugh out loud b/c jj and the people we sit with are making sarcastic jokes about the poor guy chasing rabbits at the front. it's pretty sad. so, since i've always enjoyed listening to good preaching, i'm looking forward to the weekend. i'm guessing there's going to be some good worship music too (which is another area our church could improve on). another thing i'm looking forward to is the fellowship. i haven't had too many chances to get to know people b/c i work on wednesday nights during the discipleship groups (which is something i really like about our church, but don't get to experience enough). going on a trip is always a good way to get to know people better. please pray that this will be a spiritually encouraging weekend for me and that i will grow closer to God through the sermons, the worship, and the fellowship. i need it right now.