On August 15, I received a call to serve as pastor for St. John’s in Clare, Michigan and Faith in Harrison, Michigan.  That precipitated six weeks of agonized wrestling over where the Lord wanted me to continue my pastoral ministry.  On September 25, it was shared with St. Paul’s (the congregation I have been serving in Tacoma for over 30 years), and with St. John’s and Faith in Michigan, that I was led to accept the call to Michigan.  Due to multiple circumstances, I will be delayed in transitioning there, but as soon as possible that will be where I settle in as pastor.  Which leads to this week’s post.

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Life is full of radical shake-ups.  Everyone who walks this planet experiences unforeseen situations that rock their world.  The life-rattling occurrences can appear in any facet of one’s life, whether health, family, occupation, finances, possessions … or several or many of the aforementioned all at once!

For a pastor or a teacher, there’s nothing quite as “life-rattling” as receiving a “call” to consider serving the Lord in a different church or school than where he or she is currently serving.

For a pastor, that’s a situation and a decision that obviously impacts his entire family – especially if he decides he needs to accept the call.  The respective worlds of himself, his wife and their children are flipped upside down.  Even the family members’ co-workers and classmates, their extended family and their friends, are affected.  Not to mention the church the pastor has been serving, AND the church or churches where he will serve in the future.

That’s a whole lot of life-shaking happening!  A rather extensive sphere of upset!  (Not necessarily bad upset, but upset nonetheless.)

Significant questions that naturally arise are … how is this all going to work?  How will this affect our current congregation?  How about the other ones?  Not to mention the school where my wife teaches? 

Will the lengthy delay in transitioning bring greater blessings than challenges all around?  How can I best serve the congregation where I currently am during the delay, and how can I best serve the congregations where I’m going while 2,000 miles away?

What about my family members’ current lives and their future plans?  What about selling our house and all that entails?  What about buying a new one three time zones away?  Should we buy now or later, and when we do, how do we finance it?  How can we know the new house is a good choice – the right choice?

So many, many, MANY questions to consider!  And what questions should I be asking that aren’t even coming to mind?

Here’s what became glaringly apparent through this entire call process, and as I look to the future: I MUST trust the Lord.  And not only me, but everyone involved in this situation … whether involved significantly or minimally.  We must trust our gracious and guiding God.  Only he knows the path forward and has the answers in hand.  His attributes of omnipotence (all-powerful), omniscience (all knowing), and love never had more profound implications!  The Lord will guide and provide!

Ultimately, the necessity of trusting the Lord goes well beyond a pastor or teacher considering and deciding on a call.  Trusting the Lord should be a Christian’s preset and default mode … a life-approach used continually and unilaterally every single day and regarding every single aspect of their life.

For we always need God’s assistance.

As my wife and I wrestled with what the Lord would have us do, we had to keep returning to this refrain: “We must trust God.” 

Being forced to fall repeatedly back on this truth recently, I couldn’t help but wonder if the word “trust” might form the basis (serve as an acronym) for a longer explanation of the word’s essence.  I thought about it, and here’s my proposal:

T – Total

R – Reliance

U – Upon our

S – Savior!

T – TOTAL!

I’d be delighted if you shared your thoughts on my suggestion, or if you have a different suggestion, in the comments portion of this blog.  In the meantime, I close this post with the dearly loved and very appropriate words from the Holy Spirit through Solomon:

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

In other words – Total Reliance Upon our Savior! TOTAL!