The past misconceptions and current positions.

So I have been considering for a while now the idea of starting my own blog. I have written a few things in the past and just posted them to facebook and myspace but have never really created my own page for anything like this. After listening to the advice of Dave Gardner (which is usually a dangerous thing to do) I have decided to create my own page and begin blogging hopefully on a regular basis.

Right now I am at a very strange point in my life, one that I had never before even considered being in. For those of you that I talk to on a regular basis you know that I am getting married in 14 days (June 6th) and when I return to Lynchburg I will be married and unemployed. This is an idea that is frightening to me, in the sense that I know that I need to be able to provide for my wife and myself, but is causing more worry for Sarah and her mother than it is for me. Fully relying on God is not something that I have every really had a problem with, it has always been something that I have just done knowing that God will provide everything I need (Matthew 6:25-34) and occasionally things that I want. He has, however, from time to time found need to remind me to fully rely on Him and has placed me in situations where I find myself facing an almost impossible task. Right now I am faced with the task of providing for a family as well as pay for Sarah to finish her last year and a half of School. I need to find a job that is both going to provide for those needs but at the same time continue in my calling as a follower of Christ to fulfill the Great Commission. Sometimes I think life would be so much easier if I were not a Follower of Christ but then I remember all the different situations I have been put in that I would not have successfully come out of had it not been for the amazing providence of God.

As I sit here and continue to think these things through I find myself these days having to constantly remind myself that these decisions need to be made not only with the thought of providing for my family and paying for Sarah’s school but also that whatever I do needs to further the Kingdom of God, and that needs to be its sole purpose in my life.

Lets go back for a moment to the statement I started the meat of this blog off with. As I said I am in a position I never thought I would find myself in. I have been assuming for the last 4 years that when I graduated college I would dive directly into Youth Ministry. This has been a passion that God has directly placed into my heart and is the vocation that I know God has called me to. I had assumed that I would get married as soon as I graduated and that I would have a job all lined up and my life would fall into this perfect world of “Developing adult leaders to impact and influence the lives of students so that they will develop a faith that will impact the World for Christ.” I would have an Adult leadership team around me as I developed the youth in whatever geographical location God called me to and would be impacting an entire culture for the Gospel of Christ. Instead I find myself unemployed almost begging God for a position at Liberty University so that I can pay for my future wife’s schooling and still pay the bills, not having any idea where in the world to start looking outside of Liberty for a job that is not ministry related because I believe God has me involved with conVerge Church for a reason, and wondering where in the world God is directing my life.

You now have an indepth look at where I am in my life right now. As I post more blogs understand that this is where I am coming from whether the blog is based around something that smacked me in the face through scripture, my day to day walk with Christ, some new revelation about Youth Ministry, or whatever inspiration I find in my daily efforts to live every aspect of my life based upon the mission of Christ.

Feel free to comment with ideas, suggestions, advice, or just random comments to any of the blogs including this one. Thanks for taking the time to read it.

~ by Bryan Stafford on May 23, 2008.