Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Further Up and Further In

I don't like (in fact, I detest) using the "God told me" card. I just don't like to use it (probably because it is overused and abused). However, paying careful attention to the leading of God in our lives is fundamental to the Christian identity. And that is where I am at now...

Fran and I have just accepted a youth pastorship position in the booming metropolis of Oxford, Nova Scotia. After visiting a couple churches in Ontario and much prayer and consideration, I honestly believe that God has called us to this remote mission field. And you know what; it's good.

So why the Lewisian quote? Well, I feel like an unconscious Reepicheep slowly waking up to the direction I am called. Life lately has been distracting, stressful, and somewhat unsafe. However, despite it all, I have been carried further up and further in. I didn't think I was progressing very much in my deeper life but now I realize I have been carried along. Left to my own devices I would not be a good candidate for any pastorship, yet I'm not left alone.

This is going to be a long blog (hey, it has been a while).

I'd like to give a shout-out to my buddy Steve Adam. Got to see him briefly in Ontario. Steve is the type of guy that if we have no communication for months (or sometimes longer) we can just dive into conversation the next time our paths cross. Steve is also a kindred thinker to myself. It's refreshing to discover that our thoughts are heading in similar directions when our paths do cross.

Life is bittersweet. Jack Johnson says it well:

Down the middle drops one more
Grain of sand
They say that
New life makes losing life easier to understand
Words are kind
They helped ease the mind
Of this, my old friend
And though you gotta go
We'll keep a piece of your soul
One comes out
One comes in
While in Ontario my grandmother suffered a stroke and passed shortly thereafter. In the same timespan a longtime friend of mine got married to a wonderful woman. All the while, my wife and I were considering where to settle next and continuing to anticipate our coming addition. Kind of a soul/road-mark period. Just before the wedding Fran and I (and my immediate family) were able to visit my grandmother. The effects of the stroke were obvious. And yet, I have rarely seen such joyful surprise in someone's eyes as I did in hers when we told her we are expecting. I am at peace with her passing. There is both sadness and relief in the thought (there is also a tinge of both in moving to Oxford). No one writes poetry so beautiful as the crafter of the universe.

Neither does anyone do humor quite so well... so make sure to get your very own "Green Prosperity Handkerchief" here.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Completely unrelated. I went to Superdickery like you told me to and all I can say is Wow. Maybe shouldn't have opened it up at work, its hard to conceal the laughs and gasps.

Troy said...

I'm finding it odd how moving on in life tends to be so difficult but it's almost always the kind of "difficult" that we are ok with. I will miss you guys again, but there's an odd comfort of knowing that the ministry we are all heading to, though in different places, will keep us in touch and we will get to kick it together again.