Salutations all!! I hope everyone is doing well. I just wanted to inform everyone how GOD has been shaking up my world. For the past couple of weeks, I have been wondering, “What’s God’s purpose for me?” I have been wrestling with a lot of ideas. One main suggestion that keeps coming up is “why don’t you become a pastor??” Well there are plenty of reasons why. The main reason would be that I am not well versed to be able to teach effectively. Maybe that’s just me rejecting the idea that I can actually bring insight to people. That just creeps me out. I thought that I would be done with culinary school, working for a 5 star restaurant and possibly thinking of opening my own. Come to think of it, nothing I have planned has come into fruition. Maybe that’s GOD saying, “Look Jeff, you think that you have everything together, but you can’t do anything without ME.” I think that I have “lived” life so long trying to be in control of everything, when in reality, I have control of nothing.
So recently, I have come to the fact that everything is planned. Everything happens for a reason. My brother and I were talking a couple of nights ago, and he was saying that if he could change something about his life, he would change not finishing school. Of course our conversation came after my revelation. So my response to him was in the likes of: “Because you didn’t finish college, you work harder; you have a stronger sense of work ethics, maybe it was supposed to happen that way.” I still would never imagine someone coming up to me saying that I needed to get into the ministry. I still can’t fathom it. All I can do is accept whatever calling GOD is giving me.
Last night at Revolution (www.revolution813.com) Chris Elrod a pastor from
“I know you inside and out, and find little to my liking. You're not cold, you're not hot—far better to be either cold or hot! You're stale. You're stagnant. You make me want to vomit. You brag, 'I'm rich, I've got it made, I need nothing from anyone,' oblivious that in fact you're a pitiful, blind beggar, threadbare and homeless.” Revelation 3:15-17
So here is what I am deciding. First let me tell you how excited I am to be a part of this! Well, I should probably say this is a two part involvement in ministry. First, God gave me the idea of starting an “in-group”. In-group?? What is that??? Well I’m glad you asked! An in-group, for those who don’t know, is an interest group designed for fellowship and possibly for other splendid things…..no, not dating… but more so that these groups might open a different perspective about who Christians are. So my in-group’s central theme is food…Duh right?? Instead of a gym in-group, I chose an eating in-group! Funny huh? I get off track… So, I met with my pastor to discuss some ideas for the group, and he mentioned that he wanted me to be a part of the leadership group for his new church. I was floored!! It felt that God smacked me in the face and told me to get with it. I kept thinking that I wasn’t groomed to be a leader or even be part of the leadership at a church. For a while now, I have been praying for vision; for purpose; but in the same sense, denying the vision that kept coming up. Hearing what I heard couldn’t be any clearer.
“Do what your king commands; you gave a sacred oath of obedience. Don't worryingly second-guess your orders or try to back out when the task is unpleasant. You're serving his pleasure, not yours. The king has the last word. Who dares say to him, "What are you doing?" Carrying out orders won't hurt you a bit; the wise person obeys promptly and accurately. Yes, there's a right time and way for everything, even though, unfortunately, we miss it for the most part. It's true that no one knows what's going to happen, or when.”
So here I am, in control of a restaurant in-group and in consideration of helping lead and organize small groups/ in-groups for a church! Yeah it’s a far cry from being a chef huh? You know what though; I have come to the realization that even this plan may not go how I might expect it. But I guess that’s the exciting part of God’s plan for us. We know that we are in good hands. We know that HE wants nothing but the best for us. Maybe we should take a step back from trying to control our lives all the time and just trust that it will work out.
“It’s not arriving at point B that makes you happy, but it’s the journey that we should all take time to enjoy.” –Mike Deserio
1 comment:
Dude... we need to meet this week...one, i didnt know you had a blog... and Two, we need to meet!
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