That’s it, I’m doing it.
This time it’s serious. This time I’m going to strike out on a huge adventure with God and the very first thing I need to do, the thing that all Christians know God wants us to do at the start of a new adventure with Him is to quit my job.
Sure we don’t know what Jesus was doing for the first 30 years of his life and Moses spent 40 years learning how to be a shepherd before the burning bush and Paul was making tents even after he’d been called by God, but like 80s rockstar Roxette said, you should always listen to your heart, when's he's calling for you. Listen to your heart there's nothing else you can do. I don't know where you going and I don't know why, ... Soooo, so long job.
I’m chasing God’s vision for me and it just so happens that vision leads right out of this company. And anyone that stands in my way, any family members or small group friends or anyone else that even dares ask a question about the wisdom behind starting an adventure this way is just a doubter. They’re not wise counsel, they’re a bunch of wusses with tiny faith who don’t believe in the almighty power of God to do great things. A power, that by the way, I have been able to discern has nothing to do with me having a steady job. The mission field is out there, not in here at work where I’m surrounded all day by non Christians that desperately need to know the Lord. I want to reach people, just not these people.
Soon I’ll be living day to day, chasing my dream with God, probably going to need to buy some rope and maybe a bowie knife.
And if I don’t quit my job, if for some reason I’m unable to, I’ll just grumble. I’ll just pout because I’m not being used for the Lord at my job and I’m capable of so much more for Him than this boring cubicle job. And eventually when my bad attitude gets loud enough, God will notice and say, “Yes, the harvest is full and I’ve been waiting for you to have a bad enough attitude so that I could send you out into it. Come my son, Europe was right. It is indeed the final countdown.” Dahnalala, dahnalalali (That's how you spell the guitar part in that song. Promise.)
What’s that you say? Do I currently spend every spare minute of my free time after work and before work doing the thing I feel called to? Am I squeezing every last bit of margin in my day so that I can spend at least one hour playing music or writing or serving people or whatever my particular "thing" is until God grants me the freedom to spend all 8 hours a day doing it?
What kind of question is that? No, I’m not if you must know, you dreamsnatcher, but that will all change magically and instantly when I unleash the shackles of my job.
This is it, I'm doing it. I’m coming for you Lord, I’m coming for you. I’m quitting this job for you God!
(I have this conversation in my head at least once a week. Have you ever thought this way?)
i used to have this conversation in my head all the time...and i did go into pouty, grumbly mode...cos i was sure this is not where God wanted me...
ReplyDeletethen this year i actually started liking my job, and i got sure fire signs from God that this is where i'm meant to be at this time in my life...and then i started thinking "what if it's not God telling me to stay...what if i've gotten so comfortable with life where it is that i'm turning away from my real, true calling, whatever it may be?"
hmmm...didn't the bible say something about being content or something...
wv: siodect -> when the frog finally gets it's revenge and it does the disecting
I think this every Monday when I walk in the office and think how can Sunday be sooo great and Monday be sooo horrible. I think, should I just work for a church? is every day like a sunday? probably not, the only thing I do know is I hate the evil company I work for. Virgil should give tours to new employees, he already knows the layout from when he showed Dante around.
ReplyDeleteI felt this way for 3 of the 5 years I worked at my last job. It was really bad. But I promised God that I would honor Him wherever I was and if He would just get me something else ASAP, I would really appreciate it. After about a year of praying that, a position opened at our church and while it's not always like Sunday (thank goodness) I work with amazing people and can honestly say that I have never once in 3+ years dreaded going to work.
ReplyDeletei actually did quit my job but it was to go back to college because apparently you need a fancy "degree" to teach kids.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, real wisdom wrapped in delicious sarcasm.
ReplyDelete"Brighten the Corner Where You Are"
I actually really like my job (most days; I could handle an excuse not to go today...). My thought comes more from the fact that sometimes it can be consuming, and I would be a better person/get more done if I worked fewer hours (because 45 hours a week is so taxing). Nevermind that when I do get free time I'm on the internet! I'm sure that has nothing to do with why I don't have more time to serve God.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to laugh this time, J, I really did, but I had an uncle once who quit his job, sat down in his recliner, and announced that if God wanted him to work, He'd send him the job.
ReplyDeleteI never saw him anywhere but in that recliner, not even in photos.
So sad.
(Truth hurts!)
We spend so much energy dreaming of how we could serve God better anywhere but where we are. The sad part is, it's not only in our jobs: we dream away singleness, college years, marriage before children, marriage with children; forgetting that God's best for us right now is right now.
ReplyDeleteOh, no, I've never had any thoughts like that! I am a perfectly realized individual mentally, emotionally and spiritually!
ReplyDelete*commences shifty eyes*
Um yes, and yes.
ReplyDeleteThe past six months of my life were basically a running loop of this conversation in my head.
And I'm writing this from my desk...at work...in an office...at a job that I'm not crazy about...in the suburbs.
Once God opened my eyes that this is my mission field for now, I can't really go back on that. Here I am until my revolving door swings open another way.
(I think this nearly every time I read SCL, but...thank God I am not alone in feeling this way.)
If we are not doing what God wants right where we are, why would He ever take us somewhere else? By the way, I have had this conversation with myself more times that I can count.
ReplyDeleteWhile my simmering passion is to be a missionary in a far away place, recently God has been reminding me of the needs right here in our own country. The vast, vast needs. Dangit, I hate it when He does stuff like that.
ReplyDeleteBeing involved in contemporary theology as I am, my conversation is the opposite. 'I need to have a 'real' job before I can be an effective servant of Jesus.' Because then and only then will I be able to form meaningful connections with pre-Christians
ReplyDeleteBecause full time pastoral ministry isn't a real job at all. I mean you only work one day a week.
Maybe our issue is that we have a tendency to assume certain things about God which are completely unfounded, such as God needing us for anything. 'God needs me to be unemployed so I can reach person X'
God needs something from you? Really? where in the bible did you see that? Oh, that well known letter, II Opinions 2:23.
My husband has this conversation with me (quite scary as he's said a few things word.for.word here)...very often.
ReplyDeleteDontcha wish God would send down His own version of a Magic 8 Ball?
Ever since we moved to Nashville in 2006, I have wanted to be a musician. But I always felt I had to take care of business first.
ReplyDeleteNow I'm a musician. But it not my full time job (I rarely get paid for it, either) but I love my day job.
Still, I have this thought in the back of my head that someday it will all fall into place and I'll be able to make a decent living off of music. That someday feels very far off, so for now I will just do what I do well and enjoy life in Christ with my family.
And Ian@UK - "II Opinions" is just excellent :)
Yes! I have had that same conversation in my head for about the last year. All the way up to last Thursday when my employer let me go. Now I'm unemployed and I'm still having a hard time figuring out what that big adventure is that I'm supposed to be embarking on for the Lord....
ReplyDeleteI have a similar conversation in my head. More like the one Moses had after the Israelites left Egypt. Of course I am in full time ministry but some days I'm ready to quit and go back to carpentry or IT work.
ReplyDeleteI think Lisa Mc hit it right on the head- if we can't appreciate what God has given us where we are, why would he give us something else? I've had the joy and the pain of working in ministry for 4 years now. While I love working with the youth and discipling them, it can get really frustrating working with the rest of the church. God has placed them where they are with a sphere of influence that I can't possible have, but yet they are so busy thinking they'd like to be somewhere else that they forget to share God's love with people they work with. But then again it's easy to share God's love at church, it's hard to do out where people might not already know Him...
ReplyDeleteSidenote- this phenomenon doesn't just happen to those working outside of ministry. The first 2 years of my job were miserable 75.26% of the time because my co-worker felt God calling him to "bigger things." He finally decided to stop making all of us miserable and quit to go pursue those things. It was one of my favorite days at work.
I know exactly how you feel, but I was bothered by the thought of:
ReplyDelete"I’m surrounded all day by non Christians that desperately need to know the Lord. I want to reach people, just not these people."
I get what you are saying... but I was one of "those people". And my Christian co-worker did help reach me, and a year ago, after 3 years of her trying to share Jesus with me, I came to the Lord and was baptised a Christian (after growing up a jaded Catholic who eventually had walked far away from God)
Maybe you hate your job. Maybe I hate my job. The Lord knows without a doubt that we could do amazing things with the gifts he has given us...I could be teaching art in 3rd world countries, I could be a missionary journalist photographer...and maybe soon I will be.
But if my co-worker had quit her job, and yes, I put her through the ringer when she tried to share Jesus with me, but she never gave up on me even when I would have....
if she had quit this job too soon, I wouldn't know the Lord the way I do now. I wouldn't have had anyone I was comfortable enough with to go to when I felt Him calling me and I had a million questions. And then there would be one less person teaching art in Africa...one less person to spread the love of God around.
So while it's tempting to say, let's all quit our jobs and go do what He intended us to do, maybe we are where we are for a reason.
I know for certain my co-worker was here for a reason. The company let her go just months after I finally came to Christ. She is now happy at home and expecting her first baby, which is what she wanted.
Maybe you should rethink "I want to reach people, just not these people."
Because we are all in need of God...anywhere we are located. It might not be so glamourous in the cubicle, or feel as special, but there are people everywhere who need to be reached. And if you ignore them, or deem them not worth your time or a lost cause, you truly are missing out, and now, so are they.
I thank God for having put my co-worker at this job. She helped change my life. I get to know God's AMAZING love and grace, which I never knew before.
She was the one who showed me your blog, too.
YOU reached me in another office and you didn't even know it. I think that is pretty amazing. Might not be a dreamy missionary ideal with guitars and children and nutella sandwiches, but I can bring nutella to work in a jar, and just SPREAD God's love around, nutella style. (in a corporate work appropriate way of course)
:-)
Wow, I just had this convo yesterday. But this time mine went in the direction of realizing how big my ego is to think that God had grand ideas for me. Not that he doesn't, it's just that his grand ideas for me involve a lot of stuff that is going to humble me -- which isn't exactly similar to what I think a grand idea should be. Doggone-it, there goes my ego crashing into my pride.
ReplyDeleteHow about- "being laid off for Jesus"?
ReplyDeleteThat's my situation right now. But I get to draw unemployment!
I'm working on all sorts of creative ways to "minister" while being out of the office.
I actually did this. I quit my job to go into ministry and I wound up a pastor for 7 years (a pox on the person that said pastors only work 1 day a week - they have no idea!). After 7 years I wound up depressed, discouraged and felt further from God than I did my spouse.
ReplyDeleteIt just wasn't worth it. I can't assume I know how God wants me to serve Him. If I do, I'm only destroying myself.
spot on, as usual! my issue isn't the actual work i do, its the overall purpose. i work for a defense contractor, which is not really a passion "I resonate with." and I wonder how I can do the exact same skills for a better org.
ReplyDeleteso from another cubite, keep on keeping on! ... for now.... until you get the dream job god wants for all of us and we can be jealous of you...
When I felt God was calling me into full-time ministry last year I really felt that the first step for me was quitting my job (general manager of a high volume restaurant) and moving back to my hometown for a few months. I decided not to rush into but prayed for God to let me know when the time was right. Things immediately went from bad to worse and I gave my notice.
ReplyDeleteI really needed to get away from the 70 hour weeks, worship of money, stress of trying to get 60 uneducated, unmotivated employees to do the right thing, etc. I needed some time to just focus on loving God and examining myself before I began my ministry.
I've been working a different job since then, but today is my last full day. I get on a plane to spend a year in Asia in two weeks.
I think God calls some people to leave their jobs as a step of faith. My career was the most important thing in my life in the years prior to God calling me into ministry. For me, quitting my job was not about focusing on ministry in the short-run, it was giving up my idol.
Have I ever felt this way? Every morning when I pull into my parking space...
ReplyDeleteIm to chicken to go out on a limb like you. I wish you the best you will be in my prayers this first friday.
ReplyDeleteMy husband did this about four years ago, and is now a full-time pastor, BUT, beforehand, we cut out all extra expenses so we wouldn't be drained financially. He sold his share of his business, which was about even with what he invested, and we paid off the major bills, except the mortgage on our house. He took a rather large pay cut, so we knew to make it work we would have to prioritize.
ReplyDeleteSince he "works only one day a week" we thought he would be home more, but that is not true. He is actually just as busy, if not busier, than when he was working at a "real job." Another eye-opener was all the behind-the-scenes human drama (real and imagined) that you don't see or know about when you are a church member. It is astonishing. There are awesome positives in full-time ministry, when you get to see God moving in people's lives. But there are also negatives, when you see Satan tearing up people's lives. I couldn't do it if I weren't absolutely sure God had called him (and us) to do this.
i just quit my job on monday to go back to school full time (like Ed, to get a fancy degree to teach kids). way to make me feel guilty, jon acuff. way to go. no seriously, i was afraid to quit my job - i think a healthy dose of fear with the reality of it all is good. i often feel like i don't have enough faith because i don't just jump out and do things more like so many *other, better, stronger* Christians i know. does anyone else feel guilty about not taking giant leaps of faith with every step?
ReplyDeleteI'm having this conversation as we speak. It's so frustrating at work. I know God is calling me to compassionate ministries at our church but He better not call me to do it at my job, please NO! These people are crazy! Get me out!
ReplyDeleteGreat blog!
I feel like Wounded Monk. I had to leave paid ministry after 9 years because I was neglecting my family and killing myself spiritually. Funny thing is, in the last two years at my new job, I have impacted 10 or 20 times as many families as I did in 9 years of ministry. I still get to work with churches at my job, but no more lock-ins. Our company culture is set up to prevent workaholism so I'm not getting sad and lonely voicemails from my young children anymore. Plus, working a regular job gives me much more "street cred" with people in my neighborhood when I reach out to them, because they know I'm just a regular guy who happens to be a Christian - not a "paid professional Christian" with something to gain from introducing them to Jesus.
ReplyDeleteJust $.02 from a guy who was on the other side and had too many meals of not-that-green grass.
get out of my head, jon acuff. it's no place for someone like you.
ReplyDeleteHmmm....
ReplyDeleteI honestly think when we allow God to use us in small ways, they can make very big impacts. But my situation is so much different than yours or anyone else's probably. I do know of someone who left a very cush job and followed God's leading to the Dominican Republic. He just so happens to be a SCL regular, which is how I found him in the first place. Incidentally, I hope you never discount how many good, encouraging relationships that have been formed as a direct result of this blog.
You can read about Chris Sullivan's journey here:
More Than Fine
My favorite line: "Yes, the harvest is full and I’ve been waiting for you to have a bad enough attitude so that I could send you out into it." I sometimes feel like God laughs at me like that, too. Not in a nasty way, but in more of a loving head-slap "what are you thinking, silly girl?" sort of way.
ReplyDeleteI got laid off a few months ago and took it as a sign from God that I would be on to bigger and better things. And in my time of unemployment a few big things were revealed to me: nothing I do at my actual job is as important as how I serve the people I interact with there; no job will complete me...that's for God; no job will be hearts and flowers and sunshine all the time, because sin exists and I and my coworkers are still prone to it, no matter where I work; and I can do many of the things I enjoy just as well while employed, since apparently I'm not a genius of making good use of my time yet.
ah i have this conversation every other day! thanks for posting this.
ReplyDeleteI can't quit my job! I a stay at home mom.
ReplyDeleteI went through a period of six gloriously insane years where I was either pregnant or nursing. In the middle of changing diapers, trying to keep the house from looking like a bomb went off in it and playing with my kids, I felt that I was doing nothing REALLY important. Then God told me two things: playing with kids IS important and if I wanted a ministry, how about participating in Random Acts of Prayer for Me?
Beth: May God bless you in this time of uncertainty with a new vision for what He would have you do.
Thursday: Amen, Sister about relationships being more important that what we do!
Jon: Great article. I have grown to love those spiritual 2x4s to the head.
I'm seriously about to do this. No joke. How'd you know?
ReplyDeleteMy plan was actually to sublease my apartment, sell my car (to get a less expensive model), quit my job, and move half way across the country to "find my identity in Christ" before I decide if I really want to go to seminary next year.
Hmm...
No. Never had this conversation with myself. Twenty years ago I was a pastor, for four years--but I planned for that for several years prior. Ministry didn't work out and I'm back in "secular" work.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago my church had a young asst pastor--rather immature, if you ask me; the only real maturity I saw in him was his ability to have 3 kids with his wife in a very short span of time. After a couple years of ministry, he departed very suddenly, believing that the Lord was calling him elsewhere, but nowhere in particular just yet. He believed he had to quit first and then look around. Took him a year or so to find a new position. He had odd jobs and his wife waitressed.
I am a missionary and I resent this post.
ReplyDeletenot really, I actually went to college to be a missionary and started right away, so the only jobs I had were means of getting to the mission field faster.
Great points there Jon.
@Amy - I am going through the exact same thing. I was in application processes with several mission boards over the last year when God said "WHOOAAA!" Now, I am considering moving to Washington (from TX) to finish school and be a "light in the darkness" there.
ReplyDeleteIn order to do so...I will HAVE to quit my job. Just sayin'!
How did you manage to get in my head?!? What silly excuses and justifications we can come up with when we are discontent!
ReplyDeleteYour blog post reminded me of an old "Allies" (Bob Carlilse's old group) song named "Send Me Lord to the Islands".
ReplyDeleteHere are the lyrics - http://www.justsomelyrics.com/2002008/Allies-Island-Song-Lyrics
i did...and then i was laid off last November...so i was released...
ReplyDelete@tandemingtroll
ReplyDeleteI don't see a previous Beth comment...am I nuts? But that was encouraging to me anyway, thanks! :)
I seem to have the opposite conversation...funny how that works, huh? Would my time be better spent going back to a full time job so we can pay off debt and see people outside of my church/home rather than taking care of my kids and being free to help out at the church?
Our pastor just encourages us to first love the Lord and tell him you're willing to do whatever he has for you....no matter WHAT it looks like!
So what's most important -- where you are or who you are while you're there?
ReplyDeleteDisclaimer: My view may be off since the Chairman of our publically held company thanks Jesus for the blessings he's brought the company and his family a couple times a year.
ReplyDeleteI've actually been in a situation where I had recently registered for a class so I could pursue a professional designation. Two days later I was at a youth event and we were to share "What we want to do when we grow up." I mentioned the designation. The next person actually said that they didn't care about career goals or designations, they just wanted to follow the Lord. There you have it - Following the Lord means never considering the path that you are on. I, also, wonder if some of those people ever consider where the money to support their ministry originates. I'm aware that working, and being an example to coworkers and giving money and my free time is how God wants me to serve him.
The Lord wants me to sit on the beach with a cold Cornona and lime. Of course I'll share the gospel with the cabana boy each time he brings me a refill.
ReplyDeleteExcuse me now, I gotta go type up my resignation letter...
How odd. This thought leapt into my head last month. And, um, I work at a church.
ReplyDeleteI was listening to NPR and hearing how the refugee children in Afghanistan needed schools and teachers, etc, and I turned to my husband and said I wanted to go help.
A grunt was my response, which really annoyed me I have to say, but of course he knows me pretty well. Like the fact I don't do well sleeping on the ground or without certain amenities!
The really sad part? That was where the thought ended. Although I'm thinking now I could at least do something from where I am....
wv: eneatess -- having really neat typing online
After all, the only people serving God full time are ministers and other church and para-church professionals. God has never called anyone to be a chemist, or raise their kids, or pave roads or pick up garbage. We should let the non-Christians do that.
ReplyDeleteNot.
Yes. I have this thought. But if I was really so passionate about it, I'd be spending my spare time doing it, just like your nosy friend so insensitively asked you.
ReplyDeleteI ended up getting a swift kick in the pants which lead me right out of a job God had been nudging me for quite some time to leave. I was burned out and in poor health.
ReplyDeleteOne year later I got my Social Work License and 4 months later I got the job I am still at today, I job I feel God truly called me to.
Brilliant! Being able to spell guitar riffs, this is one of your gifts and I hope you continue to share it with us.
ReplyDeleteOne of the major reasons I quit COLLEGE was because of this! CRAZY! It's funny to think about now!
ReplyDeleteOy. We see this all the time out here in Hollywood -- Christians who've quit their job back home and moved to L.A., believing that God has called them to Hollywood to win this heathen city for Christ, become rich and famous, and win an Oscar. Not necessarily in that order.
ReplyDeleteUsually they're here for a year or five, then they head back home, probably saying how unfair everything is.
The ones I hate seeing, though, are the husbands who've dragged their whole family out here in search of their own personal dream.
We had a friend who spent a few years here, never accomplished anything or got work in the entertainment industry (in fact, in 5 years, he'd never finished a single screenplay), then moved back to Texas. A few years later, now married and with kids (one of whom had special medical needs), he visited us, and announced he was moving back to Hollywood because *this* time it was the call of God and he would be rich and successful.
We told him no. We told him he didn't have the right to yank up his wife and family. He didn't have the right to put his child at risk by giving up his health insurance. He had his shot when he was single, he wasted it, and now he had to think of someone other than himself. ...He was stunned at our response, but realized how foolish he was being.
With the recession, with so many people losing their jobs, I wonder how many more folks will confuse their wishful thinking with the call of God...
*sigh*
Yep. Take a good, thoughtful look around and more often than not you'll find that God's placed you exactly where you ought to be.
ReplyDeleteSo needed to hear that right now and exactly how you put it. TY
ReplyDeleteOk, conviction.
ReplyDeleteI know this was meant to be humorous but the Lord just used it to sucker-punch me in the face.
Crap.
I'm pretty sure that riff was a synthesizer, not a guitar. Not that I was in love with all 80s hair metal or anything.
ReplyDeleteYep, been there. Fortunately lately I've been content. God shows me lots of stuff at every season. Pretty cool.
This post may give someone the impetus they need to follow the voice of God; or it may just be the sanctified version of, "Take this job and shove it."
ReplyDeleteThis may seem trivial among other important things being stated here, but I wouldn't imagine any "l's" in the guitar part for Final Countdown. I would imagine it more like --danana-na--danananana.
ReplyDeleteWow, I really appreciate everyone's input on this post. I have been feeling this way...more just that I don't like my job and want a different one, but I don't know what other job I would want. I'm not quitting my comfortable steady job when the economy is as it is and with no plan to go to right away. But I guess I should have a better attitude & outlook on where I am and try to make a difference where I am. It's hard to be happy at a job you aren't passionate about, but if this is where God wants me for now, than I have to decide what to do with what's been given to me instead of yearning for something else.
ReplyDeleteAnd eventually when my bad attitude gets loud enough, God will notice and say, “Yes, the harvest is full and I’ve been waiting for you to have a bad enough attitude so that I could send you out into it. Come my son, Europe was right. It is indeed the final countdown.”
ReplyDeleteEek. I'm so thankful God is as sarcastic with you as He is with me, because I needed to read that today. My attitude STINKETH to the high heavens and back down to the pits of hell. Clearly there's an exemption for bearing fruit when you work with numbskulls...that's got to be somewhere in the KJV.
Actually, no. Because if I decide to quit my job to do what God wants me to do, he's going to send me to Evangelize in Africa. Isn't that how it works?
ReplyDeleteI'd rather be here with these heathen co workers.
I've had this conversation too, but then one day God knocked me upside the head and said, "Do you see all of those hundreds of college students you teach? They need me, and I want to use you to show them that. Stop complaining and show me to them." Don't complain so much about the job anymore.
ReplyDelete@ Amy: you are so right. We always think that God's will is anywhere but where we actually are in our lives. But I think as Christians God is directing our paths and opening doors right where we are.
ReplyDeleteHeh, I wish I had a job so I could have that conversation with myself!
ReplyDeleteI've often wished I didn't have to work and could just put all my energy into school, but until God makes that possible, it's still up to me to pay the rent and buy groceries.
@Janet:
ReplyDeleteWhen I get back to CA in September for the fall semester, we should get together for coffee.
Now, onto my real comment:
I have a part-time job lined up for January, when I'm finished school and am back here permanently. I'll be working as the arts director in the church that I grew up in, producing the theatre shows and overseeing the arts programming (aside from the music, of course). I'm excited about it, but whenever people ask me why I'm not doing it full-time, I tell them that I didn't go to grad school so I could work in a church.
I could have done this job without a MFA. Yes, the degree will make me more effective, but it's not why I spent that much money and time on a graduate degree. I need and want to develop my career in the greater arts community, not just in the insular bubble of the church's Christmas and Easter productions.*
However, the church was the place where I was first introduced to theatre and the arts, and I want to serve the church and the ministry by creating a place that can inspire that kind of life-long passion in others, whether they're looking at the arts as a career from a young age, or whether they're someone who gave up on the idea because "you can't support yourself with a career in the arts" and are now getting back into it through volunteer opportunities.
Being in the professional world will make me a more effective producer in the church, too. Knowing the greater arts community will allow me to connect the church's arts ministry to what's going on outside of the church walls, and suddenly, the church's volunteers are more engaged in the community than just doing their Bible-time show once or twice a year.
So, the idea is to have the part-time job at the church, and then a full-time job in a professional arts organization. That's my best balance.
*Not to mention the fact that I go crazy when I'm only working with volunteers. I love them, but you can't fire them or fail them, which presents its own unique leadership challenges.
I had this conversation with myself (and my pastor) for a very long time. I even went an applied at a few churches. After I had my daughter, I decided I would stay at home with her. A week later my church asked me to join the staff. It's funny how God works!
ReplyDeleteToo funny! Just so you know, it works the other way around, too. Up until May, I had a job that I LOVED. I've known for the last few years that God was calling me to other things, but I freakin' loved my job and didn't want to leave! So, as He is so adept at doing, God 'pulled the rug out' from under me. Long story short - I had open-heart surgery and lost my job. Through the process I came to terms with the fact that my wife and I were so comfortable with where we were that if something had not forced us to, we never would have followed what we both knew to be a call to the missions field. Today, I am recovered from surgery and my wife and I are getting ready to leave for Bali, Indonesia in November to work in a brand-new Christian home for orphans. We are so excited to finally be doing what God put in our hearts years ago! (Plus, being surfers, Bali is definitely not 'suffering for Christ') I will say, though, that His timing is perfect - if I would have just quit my job, it wouldn't have worked. I guess He knew that all along and maybe that's why I didn't want to quit! Wow, good thing God knows how to deal with Catch-22's! Bottom line...when God calls you to do something, you'll know it and HE will make it happen, not you!
ReplyDeleteNope. Never have I thought about quitting my job because I think God wants me to. I've thought about quitting for other reasons(I was a nanny one summer to two puberty aged boys-enough said.). Every job I've ever had though, I feel like I'm always working with people who need Christ. I worked at hallmark one year and almost everyone I worked with was an unbeliever. I had some amazing conversations with those girls. I do think that may call one away from there job to better serve Him, but one also has to look for ways to serve Him in the position you are in. If however, He does call you to quit, I would listen to Him.
ReplyDeletehannah
I did it...a year ago...I left a well paying senior paralegal job to become an executive director in a small crisis pregnancy center at way less than 1/2 pay and absolutely no benefits....BTW, God means what He says...He who calls you is faithful.
ReplyDeleteIts easy to make excuses that God is calling someone else to do this...couldn't be me...
I followed a link from someone's twitter to your twitter to here, and this is the funniest thing I've read in a long time. I'm adding you to my regular reads.
ReplyDeleteThe timing of this post could not be more perfect... or painful
ReplyDeleteYou referenced the Final Countdown. What more does a post need? In my humble opinion, nothing.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I appreciate that God talks to you with sarcasm too. I thought I was the only one.
I left a ministry to work in the secular world. Five years later I'm seeing someone opening up to God's love. She has a way to go, but another person in the company is reaching out to her as well.
ReplyDeleteRead the book The Insider.
http://www.navigators.org/us/ministries/metro/tools/book-reviews/The%20Insider
I have an awesome job that I enjoy and that pays well, but I have definitely been having this conversation a lot lately. Thanks for a bit of well placed satire.
ReplyDeleteOr were you serious...
I was just thinking that today..I should be doing something that matters, something bigger, something more spiritual... than what I'm doing right now. I'm glad I'm not alone.
ReplyDeleteBut then I think that I'm really not spiritually mature enough to handle anything else, let alone what I'm doing now.
Amy at 4:34, very well put. I completely agree with you.
ReplyDeleteI think your stuff is funny because it hurts while you laugh.
ReplyDeleteYour satire is better and better every week.
It's like that guy you read in high school English who wrote the satirical piece about solving both England's hunger and poverty problems by eating the babies.
What was that guy's name?
You're him.
Years ago I was sure God wanted me to drop out of high school to go into surf ministry as a missionary on the pro tour, but he didn't tell my dad as well, nor did he give me the graceful skill and big wave courage of Occhie, Kelly or any of the other champs. I did come runner up in my local Christian Surfers annual pointscore competition a few years later - but that was because I turned up sober and surfed in every monthly tournament and accumulated a lot of participation points - at least I was involved in surf ministry for a few years.
ReplyDeleteNow I'm in church ministry, and I still feel a similar calling. It's less likely to be surf since there's virtually none where I live now - where God led me in ministry ironically! So these days its as a playing football chaplain, or a golf pro with amazing attitude, who's character plus awesomeness on the green has people turning to Jesus in droves, especially after tough Sundays.
Sadly, I know it's not God's voice, it's mine, again, at least partly because I'm 41 & fat with 5 kids and on the rare occasion I play golf (I never play football - but I watch a lot) I'm a long way north of par.
On something of a related note, in our very first class at Bible College our lecturer asked us at the beginning who in the class felt that we were exactly where we were supposed to be, doing exactly what God was calling us too. Of course everyone shot their good little Christian hands in the air. An hour and half later, after we'd all forgotten about that, he asked; "If you knew Jesus was coming back tomorrow, where would you go and what would you do?" Suddenly everyone was off somewhere, the more noble ones to save the lost, especially family members, the rest of us to pursue our bucket list.
When we'd all finished he looked at us and said; "When we began this class, you all assured me you were exactly where God was calling you to be, doing exactly what he was calling you to do. If that's true, why would the knowledge Jesus was coming back change anything?"
Powerful lesson learned.
I was in a very stressful job in an accounting dept for over 10 years. I was good at it and actually liked the work itself but the atmosphere was toxic as all get out. I wanted to do my job "as unto the Lord" so I worked very hard. I was very productive in comparsion to my co-workers and what ultimately ended up happening was that I would get more and more of their undone work piled on my desk in addition to all my actual duties. Eventually something had to give and the stress started getting to me. God eventually got me out of that job and I'm currently on what I call perma-vacation due to multiple disability but I remember asking God more than a few times during those years "Is this it? Is this what You have for me?"
ReplyDeleteJonathan Swift, and it was Ireland.
ReplyDeleteWow...astonishingly accurate, are you listening to the conversation I have with myself at least once a week too?
ReplyDeleteI left a job teaching in public high school (where I used Jonathan Swift's writing to teach irony, incidentally) to Be A Missionary Overseas, where I was pretty much surrounded by a bunch of Christians. When I got home I became extremely strident towards people who Felt Called To Leave Their Secular Jobs to go to seminary and go into "full-time ministry." I was pretty obnoxious, and in hindsight should have been more gracious, but it is still maddening to me that we have a heirarchy of holiness--and instead of admiring people who make tents all day AND still manage to serve like crazy, we exalt "raising support" (those quotes are making some people mad, probably) or getting paid by a church.
ReplyDeleteSo, the next time someone tells you they are going into Full-time Ministry, you should say, "Oh, great! So you're going to teach in public school/be an attorney/go to medical school/work in advertising/be a plumber so that you can earn a decent living while simultaneously reaching an unreached people group?! Awesome!"
Given the state of the economy, the monthly millions of job losses, the financial ruin of the land, I guess God wants everyone to go into ministry and skip Amway for a while.
ReplyDeleteOne can serve God with all their heart, but it is hard to serve Pampered Chef and Tupperware with all your heart.
The "work one day a week" comment may have been facetious, but given some sermons I have heard of late, I doubt a full day was put into them.
Funerals at random would be a bummer too. You can't use the same story, and people are always dying alphabetically in Obits.
Weddings require a rehearsal; marriage does not.
I personally hated board meetings and believe that Robert's Rules of Order proceedings author is going to hell. He put everyone else there every meeting.
On the plus side, you get to wear some cool vestments each Sunday (at least at Orthodox spots).
And if you think of going Catholic,(yes, they believe in Jesus too, so get used to them being children of God...like you), well, you have to listen to a pile of sins at confession. Would you want to listen to the worst things people did all the time? Mortal and Venial?
A job at Waste Management could be better, if the Lord calls.
They would certainly read your resume as the two businesses are similar.
"Be still and know that I am God" is a clear mandate to buy a Lazy Boy an get HDTV for a while.
I used to have this conversation in my head daily until God made it clear that my job is my missions field. Period.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely...YES!
ReplyDeleteCurrently sitting in China. Two years ago I quit my boring, safe job in America - to go do some big, massive, important, GODLY thing in a rural village outside Beijing.
And you know what? I sit at a desk most of the day and answer emails. I sit in long meetings. I change the toner cartridge. I just happen to be doing it in China now.
I'm not saying that coming here was a mistake at all. The last two years have totally changed my life. But I just learned pretty quickly that if God was going to use me at all in this country, it would be by doing the same things I did when I was back at home.
Normal, normal, things.
This is a message I need to keep learning over and over again. Thanks for writing this, Jon!
I just quit my job last month because I felt like God laid it on my heart to do so.
ReplyDeleteI was a youth pastor.
Now I'm working nearly full-time in retail at a children's store in town (I had been working there part-time for several years already) and it's great. I don't have to work my schedule around two jobs anymore, and when I come home from work, I'm done. I'm increasing my vocabulary, too: two words/phrases that I've recently learned are "time off" and "rest". :)
I don't know where God will be sending me next, but for now I am where I need to be. It's a good feeling.
wv: filess - the state of your cubicle when you quit your desk job to do something big for God.
Wow, very timely post for me! I've been struggling with thoughts about doing "big things" for God and, truth me told, dealing with some discontentment with my present situation (not that I actually have a career yet, I'm still in college and just working full-time for the summer). I'm still not sure what God has in store for my future, since I am going to school to be a teacher at a time when teaching positions are being cut right and left...but I am trying to focus more on the present, and trusting God to lead me where He wants me to be in the future.
ReplyDeleteoh, yeah. I had this conversation in my head non-stop since I was in college and straight through until recently. I actually did quit, went overseas to the "mission" field, came back and realized THIS IS the mission field, right here in the offices of high tech Silicon Valley, California. HELLO! It took me decades to get it.. but, I totally blame "the church" and brainwashing me year after year with "missions conferences"!
ReplyDeleteNow, I have my own ministry right here on FaithBarista.com. That ministry is MY LIFE.
I've been struggling for three years at my job. I have always known that this wasnt the career for me, but I stayed due to comfort, money, and fear of disappointing people. I've prayed and prayed and literally every single day repeated over and over that I want to quit. I'd get a pit in my stomach come Saturday night knowing I only had one more day of "freedom" before I went back to the grind. I would hate going to sleep at night knowing that I just had to wake up and do it all over again. It's a horrible feeling. Then, as of late, I feel God answered my prayers of what to do. So I am going back to grad school and not going to work! It feels so amazing knowing He finally answered my prayers and is making it so easy to so:) I'm not sure where He will place me after this...but it feels good knowing I made the leap!
ReplyDeleteWeird thing: My husband and I know a guy who literally has no job and believes that he's not supposed to have a job.
ReplyDeleteHe just got married, too.
He just does what God wants him to...every.single.day.
WHAT!?!?
@ Alida --
ReplyDeleteYes. Coffee. Good idea.
And given the job you're heading into, you might enjoy taking a look at our church's drama website:
www.belairdrama.com
first of your posts that i've ever read and i totally loved it. so on board with you - and still giggling on the inside at the use of roxette and europe to back your points.
ReplyDeletei'll be back for more....
oh dear...Roxette was my fave, I am thrilled right now. Funny story...when I was a kid, my sis and I had their cassette "Joyride" which we listened to constantly (we probably snagged it from my dad). Yet I have a memory that we actually used to think for the longest time that it was "Roxette and Joyride", like Joyride was the guy and Roxette was the girl - not the album title. I still laugh over it!
ReplyDeleteJer 12:5 “ If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, Then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, In which you trusted, they wearied you, Then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan?
ReplyDeleteWe know one person that felt like God wanted them to "step out on faith" and "live boldly". Unfortunately, that decision requires massive life-sucking techniques that provide food, shelter and clothes when you can't seem to find the "right" fit. I am exhausted by laziness clothed as "God told me to".
ReplyDeletei'm 24 and i feel like this on occasion, even tho i am not "squeezing every last bit of margin in my day so that I can spend at least one hour playing music or writing or serving people or whatever my particular "thing" is until God grants me the freedom to spend all 8 hours a day doing it". the way i c it, i'm too trashed at the end of the day, cuz the "job" took my best productive 8 for the day lol.
ReplyDeleteNow I say! That's just how I feel some times with studying. This really hit humur and really hit home. Thanks for this blog!
ReplyDeleteThis is what I think sometimes "I mean, well, umm, couldn't I serve God better if I was just studying something else? Some thing more heroic like bible college?"
ReplyDeleteMy husband did this over my objections. Four years later, our marriage still has some wounded places and we're still recovering financially. My thinking is that if He's asking one spouse to do something drastic, He'll let the other spouse in on the memo too. He wants marriages to stay *together.*
ReplyDeleteoh, I was thinking about your wife! My husband has this conversation too and I just think/say 'wouldn't God want one of us to have a job?' (I'm at home with the kids) I guess I struggle with the blind faith sometimes needed for this.
ReplyDeletei do have this thought but try to remember baby steps and also to make sure it's not my own voice i'm listening to
ReplyDeleteWow Jon - funny, and it makes you think. Amazing how many people belonging to Christ think along the same lines. You are right to make us think about whether or not we're ready to be free from a job and work only for the Lord - if that's what we think we're supposed to do.
ReplyDeleteI have the worst job in the world - telemarketing. Amazing that I got this job at a time when I am most weary of all of my work life, yet I do my job, not like a usual job - I work for the Lord, yes, sharing my faith in the work place, but I work for the people who run the company - loving them, since they are so special, I find purpose and energy in doing my job.
On the other hand, I am at times ready to burst because my mind wants to be doing something else - something more stimulating, exciting, fulfilling.
But they also have hired me to do administrative work and they pay me well for it. So, I have that comfort thing. But it's not just that. It's listening to the Lord and waiting on Him. There is a witch in my work place I want to win for the Lord.
There are people involved, and I can't move an inch until I hear what God wants me to do regarding those people.
Dude, stop reading my mail....
ReplyDeleteIn the span of 10 years, I worked for a non-profit Christian camp and a very-much-for-profit-but-hey-we-are-really-a-ministry Christian company. I learned a lot about ministry and working with other Christians. It was very good for me. I have no more delusions of ministry grandeur.
ReplyDeleteI am an at-home mom currently, but when/if I "go back," quite honestly, I would much rather just work in the secular world.
Amen, and amen. Until I started actually, ahem, TRYING at my job. It's been a refreshing change and I actually feel like I'm making a difference.
ReplyDeleteBeing "the smart but lazy Christian girl" doesn't exactly sell God too well. I should know.
This will be short.
ReplyDeleteYes. As a matter of fact I usually try and turn in my notice at least once a week.
So far, no one is buying it. The conversation starts in my head and comes out of my mouth during my prayer time (whining is sometimes the appropriate word).
Loved the honesty. And sorry. Keep your job. You need to eat.
Marni - I so laughed at this one:
ReplyDelete"The Lord wants me to sit on the beach with a cold Cornona and lime. Of course I'll share the gospel with the cabana boy each time he brings me a refill.
Excuse me now, I gotta go type up my resignation letter..."
My dog woke me up at 3am the other night and I couldn't get back to sleep. So I flipped through the channels and came across Europe's Final Countdown video on VH1 classic. The volume of hair was overwhelming. Quite the pom-pom effect with the heads power-nodding to the beat. Impressive. A lost art form.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post. The topic is definitely an issue for many of us. What if your job offers little to no opportunity for "witnessing" to co-workers or clients? Maybe you are a cog in the machine and you don't have contact with people?
What I am getting at is, are the only God-pleasing occupations those that 1)are specifically ministry oriented or 2)provide opportunities to minister to others? If you aren't doing one of these, do you need to find a new job?
Finally, some of us are highly gifted in the area of discontent. To a degree I have decided to accept that fact about myself and try not to make major decisions based on trying to find contentment. And yes, there are spiritual issues with being discontent, but since I have yet to break free of this tendency, I have to live responsibly through those times. It kind of comes and goes in waves. Comes on Mondays, goes on Fridays... no, not really!
thank you for the europe reference. it made my day.
ReplyDeleteReally.
ReplyDeleteYou mean I can't quit my job. I've been playing that game in my head for years.
Though I am not fond of my job but I am thankful for it.
Myriam
I just had to read this one over again today, because it so cracks me up!
ReplyDelete