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Rick Built Something?

It's true, we can find ourselves doing the wrong thing.

As I have been in the midst of searching for what's next, I have looked at various opportunities for work and tried to imagine myself doing those things for 40+ hours a week, for the next several years. Because while every job might not be comparable to a day at an amusement park, it beats searching for a job.

I asked myself what a youth pastor does when he's no longer vocationally pastoring youth. How do the skills of a pastor translate to a world outside Sunday morning?

One such opportunity, a very temporary one, seemed to garner attention from those who know me. They seemed concerned, though not necessarily for me. One such friend was talking with my wife, heard the word construction and immediately asked why anyone would let me build something. To be fair, it's a good question, only bested by, why would anyone pay me to build something?

That's right, people heard I was doing construction and they were instantly afraid.

  • For me, how I would likely get hurt if I were allowed on any machinery. 
  • For others around me, how I would likely hurt them, again, if I were allowed on any machinery. 
  • For whatever I was building, because how could you trust the integrity of a building, knowing it was built, in part, by the same guy who came up with silly games (on a weekly basis) and enjoyed the conversational skills of middle schoolers?
Oh I get it, and fear not. I was doing more destruction, preparing the way for people with actual skill to construct. But as thankful as I was for the friend who gave me the job for a few weeks, I knew I needed something that wouldn't destroy my soul.

Obviously, I don't mean that in the spiritual sense, but we all know there are things we can see ourselves doing for 40+ hours a week and there are things which, over time, will move us to be someone other than who we are.

It's not easy for two people to wait and see; two people who are accustomed to living their lives by a simple axiom; see the need, meet the need.

In this instance, the need was a steady income. So we looked. But how do you know if you're about to jump into something too soon. My wife, clearly more marketable than me in so many ways, was offered a job within two days of applying. We turned it down, realizing that another guideline we give our children applied here; just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

Through the experience, God was teaching us that we needed to wait for Him, instead of trying to create our own solutions. If you think that's an easy lesson to live, then I invite you to try it.

I have done as King David so famously penned in Psalm 40;
I waited patiently for the Lord to help me,
and he turned to me and heard my cry.
Ok, maybe not always perfectly patient, but I have waited. And better yet, He has heard my cry.
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