I just have to say, how bout them Giants?

A Balance and a Tension

At Orientation for New Staff, one of the aspects of ministry they tried to prepare us for was the need to understand the balance and tension between our action and God's action. Of course, God does all the real work, but we can't sit around and do nothing, otherwise we would miss out on a whole heap of blessing. I am learning in the 2 weeks I've been in full-time ministry, that it is a difficult tension for me to grasp, especially since I tend towards wanting to do work all by myself, and God has to constantly remind me of the futility of doing so. I especially feel the pressure because, technically, ministry is my job, and jobs mean you do work for a salary.
But ministry as a job is different, and I am finding it means a whole lot of letting go. And a whole lot of prayer. One of my ministry emphases (and one that is very dear to my heart) is ministry to minority students, and this is a ministry (especially at Cal Poly) that comes up against a lot of spiritual strongholds. This means that God REALLY has to do the work, and I need to do a whole lot of praying. It is a good but hard thing to learn, especially at Cal Poly where efficiency and productivity are next to godliness, and sometimes people confuse them for godliness. It is not an easy culture to remember that being a Christian is about BEING, not doing. That doesn't mean action is excluded, but I know for me, God is leading me towards a whole lot of prayer.

The Real Spiritual Life

"Our spiritual life is His affair; because, whatever we may think to the contrary, it is really produced by His steady attraction, and our humble and self-forgetful response to it. It consists in being drawn, at His pace and in His way, to the place where He wants us to be; not the place we fancied for ourselves."

-Evelyn Underhill