Reinforcing my Call

God impressed upon me tonight that he has not forgot about me. He knows that Beth and I sold our house. He knows that we do not know what is going to happen next on this journey. He knows that it is easy to get discouraged when you are waiting. Tonight I happened upon a church that is looking for a pastor and while I was reading their description my heart started beating faster. I am not saying that this is the church. I am not saying God told me that this is the place. It would have been cool if He had done that, but He didn't. What He did tell me is that He knows where and when I am to go. He is in the process of preparing the place right now. He told me that I shouldn't give up or settle for anything less than His very best. This speaks to a place in my soul that has been fighting the notion that I have to go pastor in some obscure place so I can have the experience that some churches are looking for. I have been fighting this notion for some time. Obscurity is fine; obscurity is not scary if God is in it. Obscurity for the sake of job advancement is shallow at best. I know that God raises up leaders in the desert (ie. Moses), but I want to move to a place knowing only that I will be there for the rest of my life unless God intervenes. This goes as far back as my college days in the early 90's. I was always put out by pastors who took positions because it could advance their career.(I worked for one) I was also put out by my friends and classmates who went into youth ministry, not because they loved ministering to students, but because they knew it was the first step to becoming a senior pastor. It was my friends who had the courage to step out and pastor because that is what they were called to do and not what would advance their career that I have respect for. Those guys took jobs in places that the 'youth pastors' didn't want to be stuck in. Some of them are still there...loving, caring, pastoring, and preaching the gospel. One of the elders at our church is the son of a pastor. His dad spent his whole adult life pastoring small rural churches in Idaho(maybe Montana). He says that those churches were never any bigger than 50 to 75 people. He gets very offended when conversations about church growth imply that his dad wasn't effective because his dad's church never grew over 100 people. It is so cool to listen to him talk about how he knows that God used his dad in mighty and amazing ways because he was obedient to his calling. It has been a very cool 2 hours that I have spent with God. I know that I have been on a non traditional journey to where I am now. I understand that I don't look like a typical baptist(my heritage) pastor. I know that I don't have years of ministry with the word 'senior' in front of my position title. What I do have is years of loyal, trustworthy commitment to what God called me to do. He has called me to be a pastor. That is what I will do...He will take care of the rest.