• Life Update: One Step Closer
I got the news just yesterday. Saint Cloud State University has now formally admitted me to their Chemical Dependency Graduate Certificate program! That means if things progress as planned, in about a year or so, I should be able to take the exam for and gain my license to be a Chemical Dependency counselor. By that time too, the church I’m currently attending should be ready to ordain me in preparation for my gaining Board Certification to be a chaplain. In the meantime, the pastor there is currently working on getting me into the local volunteer Police chaplain program, so I can keep my counseling skills honed while I receive training. So, things are coming together. It may seem slow, but I am learning to be patient. Some of the best things in this life need to be worked and waited for and it is that process that makes them all the more worth it.
• Sharing my Journey: Thoughts of a Theologically Trained Package Handler
Yes, it may sound like a contradiction in terms, like I have become a living paradox, yet I am beginning to find peace and contentment in my work at SpeeDee’s. True, at times I wonder what I’m doing here as a graduate of both college and graduate school. When those thoughts come, I often reflect on the stories of Moses and Joseph. Both were given lofty visions. Joseph had a dream where his family bowed down to him and Moses had sensed a call to deliver Israel. Yet neither went to traditional route to achieve their dreams. Indeed, at times they probably wondered what they were doing where they were. What is God thinking by having me go through this? How could Moses have known God would use the skills and experience he had built up over the years of his being a shepherd to sheep to lead the stiff-necked people of Israel through the desert to the Promised Land? Or Joseph imagine that suffering there in a prison for a crime he did not commit, he would meet a contact that would one day reference him to pharaoh? Such are the ways of God. He works in ways not obvious to this world. Remember, His ways are not ours (Isaiah 55:8). We want everything now, yet God know that things that come quickly can be gone just as fast. The things that take time to accomplish, that take much time and effort to complete, those are the things that truly last.
I am once again realizing that I am not now who I need to be in order to fully complete God’s purpose in my life, yet who I am now is vital to my becoming who I will be in the future. That is how, I am learning, good things come to be, not all at once, but, slowly, piece by piece, until everything is just right.
A few weekends ago, I was on a church retreat with some friends. It was there I wrote the following poem:
Into the Woods
I saw you when you ran into the woods,
For I was there with you,
I was the One you were running away from,
Yet I was the One you were running to,
Which was I to you?
Which were you to Me?
How I long for you to cling to Me as you used to,
To feel your heart beat with mine,
To share your thoughts and know your mind,
Yet you have drifted far away and are ever still rowing,
Farther and farther you roam,
It seems almost as if you are at home,
There in the wilderness,
Off in the distance.
Come home to Me, My love,
The journey is really not that long,
If you would but turn around,
Lift up your eyes and see,
There you would find Me,
My gentle hands will wipe away your every tear,
The blood from My wounds will cleanse your every sin.
Cleansing and reaching ever deeper within,
Bring your broken hearts and shattered dreams
Lay them at My nail-pierced feet
For when you cried, I cried with you,
When you ran, I was there at your side,
When you hid there in the dark,
I was there as well.
I am with you always,
Not as a presence to be feared
But as One who knows you through and through,
One who has seen you at your worst and at your best
I know you, I love you, and I am for you.
There in the woods, God gave to me the words I so desperately needed to hear. His heart searching for mine even as I sought hard after His. May they be encouraging words to each of you as well. Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, be you lost in the woods of life, not knowing which way to go next or walking with purpose and passion, with your vision fully centered. Know that the God Who knows you inside and out, deeper and close than you can ever imagine, is the same God Who loves you just as much. He is with you and for you always! God is with you each, now and forever. May our eyes ever open wider to this truth. Peace out,I saw you when you ran into the woods,
For I was there with you,
I was the One you were running away from,
Yet I was the One you were running to,
Which was I to you?
Which were you to Me?
How I long for you to cling to Me as you used to,
To feel your heart beat with mine,
To share your thoughts and know your mind,
Yet you have drifted far away and are ever still rowing,
Farther and farther you roam,
It seems almost as if you are at home,
There in the wilderness,
Off in the distance.
Come home to Me, My love,
The journey is really not that long,
If you would but turn around,
Lift up your eyes and see,
There you would find Me,
My gentle hands will wipe away your every tear,
The blood from My wounds will cleanse your every sin.
Cleansing and reaching ever deeper within,
Bring your broken hearts and shattered dreams
Lay them at My nail-pierced feet
For when you cried, I cried with you,
When you ran, I was there at your side,
When you hid there in the dark,
I was there as well.
I am with you always,
Not as a presence to be feared
But as One who knows you through and through,
One who has seen you at your worst and at your best
I know you, I love you, and I am for you.
In His Grip,
Michel Jon Willard
Michel Jon Willard
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