Where I am vs. What could have been
I have always loved History. In fact, I went to college to be a high school social studies teacher. As I began to think about what I wanted to do in life, I knew I wanted to be a teacher because I love people. Doing a job where the people are forced to come sit and have a discussion with you multiple times a day, five days a week, was perfect for an extrovert like me. So then I needed to decide what type of teacher I wanted to be. History seemed to fit me just right because it involves a lot of reading (which I love to do) and it deals with who people were, why they do what they do, where they came from and ultimately where they are going. So really, I wanted to talk to people about people. But then I started to really think about why teaching is something I always wanted to do. Maybe it was because my dad was a teacher or some very influential people in life were teachers. Or maybe it was my way of getting Christianity in a very dark place, the American public school. Surely it was combination of most of these, but what I began to realize is that there is a reason God has lead me down a path that I would never see the destination.
I never became a high school history teacher. My degree from Missouri Southern says I can if I ever wanted to, but God seems to have different plans for my family and I. My guess is that many of you reading this have been in a similar situation where you look back on our life and you see that God has been carving out a path that you never expected, and for some, never even wanted. Although I still look back on where I could have been, I know that God has been leading me down this path to prepare me for his intended purposes instead of my own.
As I reflect on what could have been, I have began to see that each and every step was preparing me to become a missionary on the other side of the world. God gave me a passion for people. God loves his creation. It says in 1 John 4:16,
“So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. I am very grateful that God gave me a love for people. “
This led me to get an education that would teach me to teach others. God gave me a passion for history and reading. I thought I would end up using these to teach American high school students life lessons learned from the past. Instead, I am spending my evenings reading stories, articles, and books about a culture so vastly different from my own that I can hardly believe we are from the same planet. I would likely not have the capacity and desire to learn and grow through this information if it had not been instilled in me through the path God has sent me down.
So here I am a 5th and 6th Grade minister in the local church with a degree in high school social studies preparing to become a cross-cultural missionary. I am from rural Oklahoma and a 2nd generation Christian. I began a journey with an ideal destination only to realize that God had something different in mind. He wanted to me to be prepared. He used my hopes, dreams, passions and aspirations to bring about his kingdom. That is where I am.
So, what is your story? Where has God been taking you? Maybe you are currently looking back and seeing a trail that lead to just the right place in the kingdom of God or maybe you are just starting out. Wherever you are, listen to what God is saying. He says it in all kinds of ways. Sometimes it’s from a friend, a family member or a co-worker. It will very likely come from scripture or prayers early in the morning. For me it began in the stories of history and somehow ended on a piece of a napkin in a local breakfast dinner. All I know for sure is that we worship a God who is fully in control and will prepare you for the journey ahead, even when it isn’t what you expected.
-Sam
