He said that ultimately God is in control of all things, ultimately where you at is where God wants you to be....I'll spare you the details... (I am more reformed in thinking than my pastor, he is a free will baptist pastor! but ultimately we both agree that God has ordained things to be the way that they in the end will be....the "how" we get there details can vary depending on how you view free will issues)
So in ministry where ever you are at physically (a chaplain in the Army, a pastor of a church plant, an associate pastor of a long established church, a business person in a large corporation, a construction worker) is where God wants you to be.
He said we all have doubts sometimes...instead of living in the moment of emotion, we can live in the moment of the Spirit. We can stand firm in His Word and in His Sovereignty.
He was saying all of this to help prepare me for my calling into chaplaincy. Where ever the government sends me I will go. It will be exciting and an adventure. There will be things I will see that I have not ever seen yet before. There will be people hurting. There will be a lot of opportunities for love, service and ministry. There will be hardships and times of frustration and maybe even doubt.
While I am not there yet (in the Army) I am able to use this advice already! At UPS Freight, where I work, it is so easy to get so caught up in my work that I ignore people. I ignore the Spirit. I just live in my little "lala" land or I live in the emotions of work: not good. (There is a lot of anger and frustration there)
I told myself tonight at work, "God wants me here now. He has a reason and purpose for me to be here. I might be the only Jesus some of these men will ever see."
I tried today to be a leader. I tried today to love and listen to people. I tried to do all things at work for the glory of God. This is just practice for future ministry. I want to be living it now before I go off to the Army.
