Trying to Be Obedient

Travis and I have been learning a lot about obedience lately and what it means to be obedient followers of Christ. We love to talk and dream about our future and what God has in store for us. The hard part is discerning God's will for your life and separating that from our desires. For about the last year, we have been praying about a youth pastor job at another church. Travis was asked by someone to pray about this possibility, so when someone asks us to pray about something we do. At first, we didn't really know what to pray because we haven't been here all that long and we didn't feel like it was the right thing to do. But things started happening so we continued to pray more specific prayers and sought counsel and wisdom from many different people. As we prayed more specifically, God continued to answer those prayers. Along the way, we both wondered at times whether they were really answers or just coincidences. I truly believe though that there are no coincidences with God! After almost a year of praying about it, we felt that in order to be obedient, we needed to do what God was asking us to do. So, Travis sent in his resume at the end of November, we had several interviews, and then spent a weekend candidating at this church. The church voted last Sunday morning and we have decided to accept the job. It's been a hard decision to make. We are both very excited to see what God has in store for us, but at the same time are sad to leave here so soon. As we look back on this process, we are so amazed at how God answered such specific prayers. We have always felt like God called us to both of our ministry locations, but this time the decision seems even clearer to us.

A couple of months ago, our pastor did a sermon on obedience. One of the things that stuck out in my mind came from Luke 5:5. Simon Peter, a fisherman, was told by Jesus to go back out into the sea and let down their nets. Most of us would have questioned someone who doesn't know as much about our profession and probably wouldn't have done what he said. But, without question, Simon says "if you say so, we'll try again." He didn't even question him, he simply obeyed because "Jesus said so." And because of his obedience he was rewarded greatly. I want to be like Simon Peter and be obedient to Christ because great is our reward in Heaven. It's not always easy or convenient or sometimes even what we want to do, but Travis and I are still learning and are trying to be obedient to the call that God has on our lives.