Reliving the morning we left.

After years of waiting, we were on our way to the Yukon. God had finally fulfilled the call that He placed on our hearts, almost a decade before.

Proof that God’s calling is sometimes on a very different calendar than ours.

Nicole and I sat at the kitchen table. With a prayer, and push of a button, and it was sent. I had submitted a shot-in-the-dark resume to a Baptist church in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. I hadn’t yet completed my Bible college degree, but I was taking a chance that maybe they’d hire me.

Then 8 years past by.

There were numerous conversations, and possibilities. From youth ministry to church planting, and everything in between. Within a fee different church fellowships and denominations as well. None of which had come to fruition.

It’s not that we didn’t have incredible ministry experiences during that time of waiting. We traveled, we served, and built some amazing friendships. If anything, we can see now that each experience was extremely valuable, and obviously from God’s perspective, necessary.

Then the call was fulfilled!

When a door finally opened for an official candidation, it was with the church that we had initially applied to, almost a decade before. That’s right; the same church that I had applied to at our kitchen table 8 years previously. (Crazy, right?)

Furthermore, the position offered was even more perfect to my gifts and interests than I ever could have designed myself.

Here’s what I learned while waiting.

These are the 3 truths that I learned during that decade of hearing a call, yet not receiving the opportunity to live out that call.

1. Waiting Is Difficult

Perhaps this is the most obvious. Nevertheless, after 8 years of confirmation, it’s a liberating statement. Realising that waiting is a struggle, feels way better than thinking about the waiting itself.

Faith and trust are amplified during times of waiting. Lessons are learned during times of waiting. Character is built during times of waiting. We get better during times of waiting.

2. Church Is Complicated

The relationship between pastors and elders, deacons and ministry staff, the congregation and the outside world. The church is complicated!

We come out of Bible college full of ideas on how these relationships are supposed to work. We read the Epistles, establishing what should be happening. But the descriptions we study don’t mirror what we see in the church today.

Which brings me to my final truth.

3. Christians Are Fallible

I have seen pastors, elders, deacons, and people from every position in the church fall at some point. It starts with a word or behaviour that seems a bit off. Soon enough, the evidence of a struggle becomes apparent. Yet, we’re always so shocked.

As a guy who tends to avoid mercy, and too often withholds grace, I needed this lesson big time. (My plank-eye gets in the way a lot.)

Moving forward, I need to expect personal struggles with sin. I need to assume that ministry leaders will be highly susceptible. I need to plan for accountability, and moreover, have a restoration plan for when accountability has been evaded.

Isaiah 55:8-9 explains everything.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My thoughts than your thoughts.” (NASB)

After a decade of waiting, I had accepted that God’s ways are bigger, deeper, and longer than my human mind can grasp.

Every truth, every lesson, every experience needed to take place.

Join the Conversation; Share Your Thoughts:

What call has God placed on your heart, that required a time of waiting?