birthing pains – part I

I have
been back in the U.S. for over nine months. 

Is it
just me or do you also equate that number, paired with that unit of time, with
pregnancy?  I couldn’t
help but wonder lately if God wants to birth something new in my life. . .

 . . .
because about than a month ago, I was invited to join the staff of
Adventures in Missions as a Marketing Coordinator.

‘Cause my comfort would prefer for me to be numb
and avoid the impending birth of who I was born to become.

 – Brooke Fraser, “C.S. Lewis Song”
from Albertine

---

I knew
when I finished the World Race that those eleven months were only the beginning
of the rest of my life.  God’s been
giving me glimpses – mostly as others pray over me – of the greater heights and
new vistas that await me.  I wouldn’t
have imagined for myself all the things God is calling me toward; stepping into
this destiny is going to require ever deepening faith.

Here,
down in the valley, I had no idea how I would get “there”, all that greatness
ahead of me.

Then over
a month ago, my attitude toward my job hit a wall.  As my teammate Brandon would say, I was “over
it.” 

There
isn’t anything overtly objectionable to it; actually, it’s a pretty sweet
gig.  It’s a 15 minute drive (a quick
commute by Northern Virginian standards). 
I have benefits.  My colleagues are
pleasant people.  My boss let me go to Haiti.  I live quite comfortably with the income.

So if
nothing is/was wrong, why didn’t it feel right?

It was
that vague yet familiar restlessness whispering in my soul. 

Then I
heard these echoes:

A couple
days later, two brothers who prayed for me received similar words from the
Lord.  So I took the hint, and tried
spending more time doing just that, and looked for more outlets.

My
friends Rob and Jeff recently started up a web-based platform to help
small-to-medium sized nonprofits raise awareness and funding for their
causes.  They needed someone to a) help
them raise awareness of the nonprofits that are out there b) “curate” (Rob’s
word choice) their blog.

Writing
outlet [check].

Not too
long after, Jeff Goins had been emailing me to nail down a time for us to talk over
the phone.  I figured he wanted to
discuss details of a writing project for the World Race that needed to be
off-loaded.  We caught up, discussed Tim
Keller’s latest book (which I haven’t read yet) then before he had to head to a
Dave Ramsey study, he made the ask: