What do you want to be when you grow up?

The first time I ever felt called to any form of "ministry" was at the end of my seventh grade year when one of our FCA leaders began asking for a Bible Study leader for the following fall. I cannot remember my logic at the time (or if I knew what logic was) but I am sure it most likely had more to do with my respect for my current leader and an extreme desire to receive any similar form of respect from my piers.

In the year to follow I found myself in a constant struggle with God's calling on my life and in September 2001 I "surrendered to the ministry" during a fall retreat. From that tiny tabernacle in the hills of Northeast Arkansas to our apartment today in South Fort Worth God has continually developed his call on my life.

I have been encourage in the gifts God has developed in my life to care for his people and teach his word and constantly receive challenges to serve the Church no matter the price or pain. Bailey and myself understand our broader calling within the body of Christ and specific roles we have been given. We know that God has developed us and brought us together in marriage to serve his people, his Church and his will.

Even though I have had years to work out and understand this calling I am just now able to put my largest struggle into words. My constant craving is not to simply receive a calling but to see our destination. With the gifts, passions, and educational opportunities God has given me, I know that during my life I will be teaching and shepherding the people of God, but I have been struggling for years to discern where, when and how I will be working out this calling. I have recently realized that our lives are not called to a destination that we will fully understand or arrive at anytime during this life or this world. To live every day in hope of reaching some worldly destination is nothing more than a waste of a life.

But we praise God for the destination of his kingdom and the second coming of his son, and until then we ask for continual guidance as we seek to serve His coming kingdom.