Where I Am, Where I’ve Been, Where I’m Going

It was not too long ago, I had a job I took pleasure in, worked with people I liked, made a livable income, had a church I enjoyed attending. I worked with youth that I loved in a town I had learned to enjoy. In a sense, I was comfortable. The problem is and continues to be that God never called us to be comfortable, and I was comfortable.

FedEx

The year was 2001 and I was working at FedEx (the fastest ship in the shipping business). For three years I worked at the PDX site. The first year and a half I worked outside loading and unloading airplanes. I worked the morning shift, which the starting times ranged from 12am to 4am. I was usually done by 9am. I worked in the dark, rain, fog, snow and sleet. I witnessed more sunrises during my time there than I had before or after. The last year and a half of my time at FedEx, I moved inside. I had the “retirement” job, driving forklifts, loading trucks with freight to be delivered. A perk of my job was that I worked with two other guys and our manager didn’t start the day until 7. So we didn’t have any supervisors that we had to report to for most of the morning. On some days we would say hi to our manager as we were leaving to go home and he was just getting in for the morning. The pay wasn’t great, but it paid the bills and I had money left over to do things I enjoyed doing. Oh yea, we got paid every Friday. Our check would be in a sealed enveloped delivered with a handshake from our manager.

I was attending church at Mt. Scott Church of God in Portland. I had been going there since the fall of 1994, my freshman year of college. The youth pastor, Randy Archer, was a great guy and I instantly wanted to help with the youth department. Over the next seven years, I had the opportunity to lead in multiple areas within the youth ministry: Sunday school, mid-week services, camps, retreats, and various activities. I also did a summer internship there. I loved the church. I loved the youth. I loved every part of it. I knew that God was calling me into the ministry. He had given me a desire…a longing for youth. I didn’t know if that call was in full-time ministry or if it was just in the capacity I was currently in. I just knew that I was comfortable.

The Call

I came home on a Monday evening the beginning of July, after being out with a group of friends, to a message on my answering machine. It was from Randy Archer telling me that a guy named Pastor Rick Oliver wanted to get a hold of me. It seems that he was looking for someone to go out to Pendleton and do a summer internship for the church working with the youth. My first thought was: “There’s no way in God’s green earth that I would ever go to Pendleton.”

I went to bed thinking that I would call Randy in the morning, after I got off of work, and tell him to let Pastor Rick know that I was not interested in the internship. After all, I would have to quit FedEx just to do an internship for a couple months and then come back to Portland and find a new job. As much as my manager liked me at FedEx, he couldn’t hold on to my position for that length of time. When I got off work Tuesday morning, I drove to Mt. Scott Church to talk to Randy. I decided that I would have Randy give Pastor Rick my phone number; I would then hear his spiel and reject his offer, after all Pastor Rick was an old friend of the family. I then went home and waited for Pastor Rick’s call. I waited and waited. It didn’t come. After work on Wednesday I waited some more, there were no calls. When I woke up on Thursday morning I knew that I was going to Pendleton. I don’t know if I can fully describe the feeling that I had, but it was a sense of peace and this voice in my head saying to get ready to go. The voice literally said: “You are going to Pendleton!”

Later that afternoon I received a call from Pastor Rick asking if I was interested in coming out to Pendleton for a summer internship. I said yes, but perhaps he would like it if I came out just to make sure that they liked me and I liked them. After all, why should I quit my job at FedEx if I dislike Pendleton or if Pendleton disliked me?

My Visit

I came out to Pendleton and spent the day with the youth at the Reservoir. I then went out for a meal with a few adults to Roosters. I went home with a feeling that would be best described as: “You’ve got to be kidding.” I felt nothing. I had no idea if they liked me or not. I didn’t know what to do. When I woke up the next morning, the voice was back and it said the same thing: “You are going to Pendleton.”

So, what did I do? I put in my two-week notice at work. Actually, I had two weeks of vacation I hadn’t used so I really put in a four-week notice and put in for the last two weeks to be used as vacation. I was getting ready to go to Pendleton. The only thing I was waiting on was the call from Pastor Rick to tell me when. Then I waited, and waited some more. My two weeks came and left and still no phone call. I wasn’t sitting on my hands waiting for the phone call; I was trying to call him. Every time I called the church office the secretary, Anita Lewis, told me that Pastor Rick was not in. It was then that I began to think; “Maybe God wanted me to quit FedEx, not necessarily to go to Pendleton, but for some other reason that I didn’t quite know about yet.

The Second Call

The Friday after my vacation started I received a call from Pastor Rick asking me if I could start that Sunday. “Sunday, that’s in two days,” I thought. The first words from my mouth were: “Yes, I can do that.” My following thought was, “What in the world did I get myself into?”

Now, years later, I am faced with a similar situation. I’m in a place where I feel safe. A place I love and feel loved, with people I care about and who care about me. As much as I loved Portland and didn’t want to leave, I love Pendleton and don’t want to leave. But alas, I am comfortable, once again. This time is different in that I don’t know where God is going to take me. I don’t know what is in store for my family or me. The funny thing about God is that he never said he was going to reveal his whole plan for our lives, but rather, he would give us what we need when we need it. And so, it is with hopeful anticipation that I await to see where God takes me, eager to see what plans he has in store for my family and me.

What Now?

In three words: “I don’t know!” On Monday morning, March 28^th, Liam will wake me up much earlier than I wanted. I will eat breakfast and then see what the day holds for me. I am currently looking for ministry jobs. I would like to stay in the Northwest. But I suppose that if God calls me to Hawaii, who am I to say; “no.”

Over the last nine years, I would say that I have been blessed beyond measure. Things weren’t always easy, and they weren’t always fun, but I knew that this is where God had called me to be. There are so many amazing things that have happened to me during my time here. The biggest is marrying Candace, the love of my life, four years ago and the birth of Liam, eight months ago. I have so many fond memories that I will treasure forever.

I do love you and cherish the time I have been able to spend with you. I appreciate all the love and support that you have given me. You truly are my family and will be missed. I leave you with this passage from Jeremiah:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD… Jeremiah 29:11-14