I need to consider that which I am constantly hearing: be sure to do what God is calling YOU to do. Don’t make decisions based on the “practical” realities (Esther would *not* be taking on this current “cliff” of hers if she waited for all of her support to come in, if she was worried about a retirement fund, a new house, all of that.)

I just read another chapter from “Cure for the Common Life” by Max Lucado. It’s the chapter warning us that (my words here) the worries of this world can choke out the word of God from producing fruit in our lives. Specifically, his title was “Don’t consult your Greed.” That makes great sense to me, given the fact that Jesus told a would be follower “foxes have dens and the birds of the air have nests but the Son of Man does not have a place to lay his head.” The point is clear: follow Jesus and he makes no guarantees at all that you will be able to hand on to the American Dream, or even the American “right” to security, retirement, having a savings account, all that.

Now, compare that with the following:
Just last Friday, a “giant” showed some interest in me. To put it plainly, I should have at least one interview this week with a large company. Question: is this “giant” God’s answer to getting me up and over my personal “cliff of faith”? Comparing typical corporate positions with how I am wired up, my spiritual gifts, etc. it seems iffy to me that God wants me to rely on some “giant” rather than His “rope.”
On the other hand, if I get a respectable job offer, I’m going to be hard pressed to rationalize saying no.

On the other other hand, it could be that God wants me to have a typical day job and do the teaching, etc. around it. Corporations need missionaries too, and I didn’t do too bad in corporate-land. I learned much of the language, and most of the customs and tried to be useful to God by being useful to them.

But I have to confess that it wore me out at times.

Oddly enough, my contract job did not wear me out. Same basic responsibilities, but no where near the same feelings of being ground down. The contract job showed me that I can still be an enthusiastic project manager. Perhaps it was the newness of the setting, perhaps it was being “imbedded” right in the middle of a real, honest to goodness client, perhaps it was the decent way that people treated each other, perhaps it was all of the above.

At this point, just as I felt when the contract job had hopes of becoming permanent, if a good offer comes, I’ll take it as God’s gift and go for it!

………….

In the closing chapters of The Screwtape Letters, Lewis reveals that the adversity of our middle years wears on our souls and weakens our resolve. The shiny newness of youth loses its luster, love loses its intensity, the hopes and dreams of young adulthood crash and burn in the reality of practical living, even the rhythm of life itself trades spontaneity for dull routine. These times are what Screwtape refers to as “excellent campaigning weather” for winning the soul.

………

Screwtape, in case you might not know, is a devil. His idea of “winning the soul” is of course exactly the opposite of God’s.

“the rhythm of life itself…” boy, does that nail it for me! The rhythm of life can indeed wear one down, though that is not God’s plan for us!