Saturday, December 03, 2005

Waiting With God

• Mike’s Musings (12/02/05) •

Dear family & friends,

• Life Update: Waiting with God

Well, Hazelden called this past Monday to let me know they were choosing to go with someone else. To be honest, this decision came as more of a relief than anything else. The more I looked into the position, the less it seemed what I had perceived it to be in the first place. First off, if I had been hired, I would not be working as a “Chaplain” per say, but as a “Spiritual Care Counselor.” At first glance, these might seem interchangeable, and that was my perception upon walking into the interview. Then, during the interview I found out that Hazelden chooses not to call their Spiritual Care Counselors chaplains due to the “religious” connotation of the term. They are also not associated with any of the professional organizations associated with chaplaincy. Learning this came as a disappointment to me because I had hoped to take the job as a way of working toward Board-Certification with the National Organization of Chaplains and maybe even one day become a Chaplain Supervisor with the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education. Unfortunately, that was not to be the case, at least with Hazelden.

So, now the question on most of your minds is probably, “Now what?” At this point, my plan is to continue to work at Spee Dee and start attending Saint Cloud State this Spring. I will also continue working with 2:42 Community Church attending there and helping them as time allows and the Lord leads. They are in the process of becoming an official church with the Baptist General Conference and are willing to ordain me once that happens in about a year or so. That means, if everything goes as planned, I’ll be getting my license to be a Drug and Alcohol counselor and ordination to become a Board-Certified Chaplain about the same time.

• Sharing my Journey: Becoming God’s Treasure

The more I continue to work at Spee Dee, the more my thoughts turn to discipleship and spiritual formation. Of becoming more and more the man God created me to be, a man created in the image of God to become like Christ (Philippians 3:10). If you think about it, that is God’s desired destiny for each of us, to become like Christ. The question is whether we are willing to play a part in that plan. Are we willing to allow God’s Holy Spirit to be at work within us forming us into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ (2Corinthains 1:21-22)?

In addition I’m finding that working with boxes is a lot like working with people. In stacking boxes you have to know which boxes will fit with other boxes to make a more stable pile. Some of the smaller boxes are actually the heaviest and most dense and some of the larger ones are lighter and more fragile. People also are not always who they seem. We all have a tendency to wear mask and portray ourselves as who we think the world wants us to be rather than who we actually are. So, working together with people and helping them to work with each other requires the ability to look past the exterior and see what’s really going on inside each person. Does this person really have what it takes to do this job or are they just putting up a front? Can they fulfill all the requirements or will they buckle under the weight of all that responsibility?

These two streams of thought were going through my mind and heart one morning as I was reading Matthew for my quiet time. I was reading through Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and came to the part where He starts talking about storing our treasure in heaven. As I was prayerfully going over this passage, it occurred to me that perhaps Jesus was not talking about money in the way we normally think about it. As Jack Sparrow once said in Pirates of the Caribbean “Not all treasure is silver and gold, mate.” Perhaps this treasure is within each us and in our relationships with each other. Maybe it’s the image of God that He created each of us into when He made us (Genesis 1). Couldn’t that be what Paul calls the “treasure in earthen vessels” (2Corinthains 4:7). The process that he then goes on to describe in the following verses would then be understood as that image being refined and developed in us. In my understanding, that is the work of the Holy Spirit with us. When we accept Christ into our lives, He puts His seal on us in the form of the Holy Spirit to mold us and shape us into His Image. To let us become the people He intended for us to be from the very beginning. Awesome to think about, no?

I think I can see that this letter is already getting too long, so I’ll close with just one poem this month and my usual parting words:

Lord, I Would Die for You

*If it would mean the salvation
Of one more sinner
Lord, I’d die for you.

For I cried the servant’s tears
It feels like I’ve served for a thousand years
And yet still the joy fulfills me.

But sometimes in the dark
You know I feel so afraid
Afraid to tell them of You
It seems easier to die.
*

I try to follow Your Word
But at times to do so seems almost absurd.
Lord, I want to do Your will.
But instead I just lie still.
And feel the warm embrace of Your love
*

*2I want to be a sacrifice
Lord, take all of me.
I want to be a sacrifice.
Lord, take all of me.
All of me.

All my selfish fear
Let Your precious blood wash away each tear
All my evil sin
Cleanse me from within
Till nothing remains
And there are no more stains
But all that is left is Your love.
And Your Holy Spirit in me as a dove.

**2

My thanks go to each of you for joining me once again, as I share my thoughts and prayers with you in this fashion. May God awaken you to the presence His Spirit in each of you as He continues to draw each of you closer to Him and form you into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. May His peace dwell richly in your hearts and pray it dwells in mine as well. Until next time,
In His Grip,

Michel Jon Willard