And the time for Adulthood Has Cometh

So after 20and 1/2 years of schooling, 10 summer jobs lasting three months at a time, Full time ministry at part time pay, hourly retail jobs, and three months of sitting around the house being nagged by my parents......i start a job. Like a real job....not a part time need to pay off my credit card job and real adult job with all kinds of responsibility.
Monday I begin my job as a a bank teller for SunTrust bank INC. I am now an employee of the federal division of commerce (or something like that). This means that every day I will awake at 6 am...and drive approximately 30 miles to stand at a window and deal with people's money....most of which will probably be making more than I will but still I will have a job.
I train for three weeks (two in the classroom and one on site) and then begin my time as a money pusher....oh the thrill!!

Now you may be asking yourself..."Karney, why is this such a big deal?" Well my friends I though the same thing until I was hired and realized that a drug screen and fingerprinting were involved...from now until the end of time I am in the federal database...they will definitely be able to track me. And who knew the drug testing would be so serious....they actually went in the room with me to watch me pee...oh seriously like I was going to take the stash of urine out of my belly button and use it??

Anyway all of this nonsense to say....I am really excited...and thankful that i found a job with benefits (401K, HMO, PPO, IRA, IIA.....). Ask me in a few weeks if I am still as excited.

Can't Get Away

So here I am three months after leaving grad school, Atlanta, a life of habit, friends to hang out with, a meaning for my life, and I am once again sitting at Panera Bread using free wireless to look for jobs, and other opportunities to make money. I left Candler with the intention of "taking a break." Taking a break from living on my own, taking out loans, being in class, writing papers, late nights of work, reading...and really thinking about ministry all together. I left Atlanta with no want or desire to learn about the church, work in the church, volunteer in the church, or even attend church. I was so broken and burned out that the last thing I wanted to do was pick up the Bible and read, sit with others in worship and talk about the majesty and greatness of the church, after I feel like the church has burned me, and left me at my time of need.

All this to say this week all of that has changed. I applied for a job at a church in Clarksville Tennessee, about an hour north of Nashville on the KY/TN border. think Fort Campbell Army base. I got an email and a phone interview about a Children's Director position at a large church there in town. There is a large military presence and for the first time I actually have a "try-out" of sorts on the 15th of March.

I have to plan and execute a children's Sunday School class and a children's Church time during the later part of the worship service. After receiving the materials and initial planning I have realized something....something I have always known since I was 16 years old...I am a minister, and I am called to be in ministry. It is in my bones, part of my soul,and there is nothing I can do to get away from that.

It is not the church that calls, or makes you a minister. It is not the church that is perfect or shows you unfailing love. It is not the church that saves you, or says whether or not you are qualified. No friends it is NOT the church...it is GOD!! the church is merely a vessel through which you learn and carry out ministry. The church is not perfect....but through the church we...no I am perfected by faith and by grace in a relationship with God.

So friends....what am I trying to say??

I am called to ministry...I want to be in ministry....I want to get a Master's in Divinity...and I want to serve God with my entire heart, soul, and mind.

So no I can't get away. As much as I try....as hard as I have tries I can't get away from the being that makes up who I am....and what I do. And I venture to bet that none of us really can get away from the love and calling God has on our lives.