Happy Thursday!
If you have read my “About Rachel” page, I talked briefly about Chris’s job as a chaplain, and how we know that we are exactly where God wants us to be at this point in our life! I thought I’d tell you how we know that...
A couple of years ago, Chris and I were doing youth ministry here in Lakeway. We loved the kids that we were working with and had a lot of fun with them. We built relationships, and truly enjoyed hanging out with “our” kids and their families. But honestly, youth ministry just wasn’t for us. (At the time we had made the mistake of stretching ourselves waaaay too thin. Chris was working two jobs and going to school full time. I was finishing up my degree online while I stayed home with Micaiah. We were trying to make sure that we spent enough time as a family, as a couple, helping my family when they needed us, and spending time with our youth group kids...) So, we decided that we needed to step back, and try something else. But what? It was at that point that we kind of felt lost as to what we were going to do “when we grew up.” And, as some one who really likes to have plans and everything mapped out, it totally freaked me out that we had absolutely no plan.
Chris knew that he didn’t want to fill a traditional ministry role (He didn’t want to be a preacher, or a youth minister.) which worried us a little since he was over halfway finished with a bachelors in Christian Studies. In a moment of slight panic, I told him that he had to figure out what he wanted to do. I didn’t care if he wanted to be a garbage man forever. I just needed to know what he wanted to do so that we could make a plan to get there!
So, he sat down and made a list of everything that he would love in a job. It looked something like this:
I know that there were a few other things on his list, but I can’t remember exactly what they were...
When he told me his list, all I could say was, “Babe, I don’t think that job exists.... but I guess we can pray about it.” Mostly, the idea of having a company pay for him to go on mission trips, but not be a traditional ministry job seemed impossible. I’d never heard of anything like that! Nevertheless, I did pray about it like I told him I would. “God, if a job like that exists, I pray that you would get it for him.”
Honestly, I didn’t pray about it a lot. Every now and then, I would think about it and say a little prayer. And really, I mostly thought that God would just somehow bring about a job that Chris really loved and we would save up to do mission trips as a family.
Well, right before Chris’s last semester in school, he got an email from someone in the office. They had a man approach the school about a chaplain internship, and they thought that Chris should apply for it. He said okay, and went in for an interview. (I think they had about 10 people apply.) Then, he got a second interview. It ended up being somewhat of a lengthy little process, but Chris got the internship! And, when he told me about it and about the chaplain's role, all I could say was, “Chris, that guy has your dream job!” What a cool thing that God would bring him this opportunity. And, I was shocked that, “Hey, a job like that actually does exist!”
Jack, the man who approached the school, was a chaplain. He traveled around to several different stores to build relationships with team members and meet with them when they needed. He went on several company mission trips. He obviously did not have a traditional ministry role...
At the end of the semester, they offered Chris the opportunity to apply for the new Associate Chaplain position that they were creating. Again, it was a lengthy little process. (They are a really awesome company, and want to make sure that they take on awesome team members. So, the hiring process is pretty rigorous!) But, they offered him the job!
Honestly, we had to consider it a little bit. Chris would have to take a pretty big pay cut, and we had a lot of goals that we wanted to meet financially. BUT...
This was his dream job! It met every requirement on his crazy/impossible list! Not only that, but God totally laid it in his lap. He didn’t go searching for this job, it was brought to him.
So, after a lot of prayer and discussion, we decided that he should take it. We felt very strongly that God was calling him to this job, and that we just needed to trust that God would take care of everything else. He had never let us down before, and we trusted that He wouldn’t let us down then!
And I’m so glad we did. Y’all, his job is such a blessing to us! Chris gets to work with some really great people. He is learning a lot. He not only travels around town and helps people in very practical ways. He is practicing his Spanish. He works heavily with their community impact program to volunteer around town. He is going to Rwanda this summer. And, he is definitely not in a traditional ministry role. :)
The longer he is there, the more he is loving his job. And, it makes me happy to see him happy and excited about his work!
And, most of all, it makes me really excited to know that God always come through for us. Not only in the things we need, but also in the things that we want... Even in the crazy/impossible things that we ask.
What specific prayers have you seen God answer in your life? I’d love to hear your stories!!!
If you have read my “About Rachel” page, I talked briefly about Chris’s job as a chaplain, and how we know that we are exactly where God wants us to be at this point in our life! I thought I’d tell you how we know that...
A couple of years ago, Chris and I were doing youth ministry here in Lakeway. We loved the kids that we were working with and had a lot of fun with them. We built relationships, and truly enjoyed hanging out with “our” kids and their families. But honestly, youth ministry just wasn’t for us. (At the time we had made the mistake of stretching ourselves waaaay too thin. Chris was working two jobs and going to school full time. I was finishing up my degree online while I stayed home with Micaiah. We were trying to make sure that we spent enough time as a family, as a couple, helping my family when they needed us, and spending time with our youth group kids...) So, we decided that we needed to step back, and try something else. But what? It was at that point that we kind of felt lost as to what we were going to do “when we grew up.” And, as some one who really likes to have plans and everything mapped out, it totally freaked me out that we had absolutely no plan.
Chris knew that he didn’t want to fill a traditional ministry role (He didn’t want to be a preacher, or a youth minister.) which worried us a little since he was over halfway finished with a bachelors in Christian Studies. In a moment of slight panic, I told him that he had to figure out what he wanted to do. I didn’t care if he wanted to be a garbage man forever. I just needed to know what he wanted to do so that we could make a plan to get there!
So, he sat down and made a list of everything that he would love in a job. It looked something like this:
- Not be a traditional ministry role.
- Not work in an office all day.
- Help people in a very practical way.
- Be able to practice/use Spanish.
- Have the company pay for him to go on mission trips.
I know that there were a few other things on his list, but I can’t remember exactly what they were...
When he told me his list, all I could say was, “Babe, I don’t think that job exists.... but I guess we can pray about it.” Mostly, the idea of having a company pay for him to go on mission trips, but not be a traditional ministry job seemed impossible. I’d never heard of anything like that! Nevertheless, I did pray about it like I told him I would. “God, if a job like that exists, I pray that you would get it for him.”
Honestly, I didn’t pray about it a lot. Every now and then, I would think about it and say a little prayer. And really, I mostly thought that God would just somehow bring about a job that Chris really loved and we would save up to do mission trips as a family.
Well, right before Chris’s last semester in school, he got an email from someone in the office. They had a man approach the school about a chaplain internship, and they thought that Chris should apply for it. He said okay, and went in for an interview. (I think they had about 10 people apply.) Then, he got a second interview. It ended up being somewhat of a lengthy little process, but Chris got the internship! And, when he told me about it and about the chaplain's role, all I could say was, “Chris, that guy has your dream job!” What a cool thing that God would bring him this opportunity. And, I was shocked that, “Hey, a job like that actually does exist!”
Jack, the man who approached the school, was a chaplain. He traveled around to several different stores to build relationships with team members and meet with them when they needed. He went on several company mission trips. He obviously did not have a traditional ministry role...
At the end of the semester, they offered Chris the opportunity to apply for the new Associate Chaplain position that they were creating. Again, it was a lengthy little process. (They are a really awesome company, and want to make sure that they take on awesome team members. So, the hiring process is pretty rigorous!) But, they offered him the job!
Honestly, we had to consider it a little bit. Chris would have to take a pretty big pay cut, and we had a lot of goals that we wanted to meet financially. BUT...
This was his dream job! It met every requirement on his crazy/impossible list! Not only that, but God totally laid it in his lap. He didn’t go searching for this job, it was brought to him.
So, after a lot of prayer and discussion, we decided that he should take it. We felt very strongly that God was calling him to this job, and that we just needed to trust that God would take care of everything else. He had never let us down before, and we trusted that He wouldn’t let us down then!
And I’m so glad we did. Y’all, his job is such a blessing to us! Chris gets to work with some really great people. He is learning a lot. He not only travels around town and helps people in very practical ways. He is practicing his Spanish. He works heavily with their community impact program to volunteer around town. He is going to Rwanda this summer. And, he is definitely not in a traditional ministry role. :)
The longer he is there, the more he is loving his job. And, it makes me happy to see him happy and excited about his work!
And, most of all, it makes me really excited to know that God always come through for us. Not only in the things we need, but also in the things that we want... Even in the crazy/impossible things that we ask.
What specific prayers have you seen God answer in your life? I’d love to hear your stories!!!