Yesterday I tutored at my old school for the first time in a week and was really happy to make a little bit of income. Unfortunately, that's only been about once a week so it's not nearly enough income to live off of. I've been checking craigslist often for jobs within the education sector but have been coming up empty-handed. Yesterday, I was going to go apply in person to different restaurants around me until I got called into tutoring. I plan on trying that again today, but honestly hope I'll be called into tutoring as I make pretty good money at that when I do it. For the summer, though, I'm going to have to find something to do with my time. I'd love to go overseas again but simply don't have the necessary funds to do so.
At this point, you may be asking yourself, so, what does he do with all his time? Good question. For a few hours 3-4 days a week I help my pastor with church-related stuff, just getting stuff done that needs to be done. I enjoy helping him immensely. For several years he was a youth pastor and I was his right-hand man so this reminds me of those times when I can be on the 'front lines' of ministry with our church. I love doing church work, it's a big part of my life. My pastor suggested that I start fund-raising for the work I'm doing and so this week I'm going to start doing that if I can get some information from him about how to best go about it (you've been forewarned :) He has another friend who said he would try and fundraise for me as well so hopefully he comes through as that would also be a huge help. My main concern in this is just going to be making it as easy as possible to donate. I know I'm a lot more likely to donate to a missionary if there's a clear path on how to do so. This past Sunday we had a meeting of several people who want to present opportunities to the rest of our church of service things they can do. My main goal in the area of service is to get people to see it as a lifestyle and not just something you do on one Saturday a month or on mission trips. That will take quite a bit of work to change people's perception but I think I'm up to the challenge. As Christians, we are called to serve because Christ served while He was on this earth and set the example of how we're to strive to live. We won't be as good at it as He was obviously but I'd rather try than not.
On a podcast the other day, I heard a guy give a stat that a large percentage of jobs are never even posted. How do I go about getting those jobs? That's why I'm going to go to restaurants today or sometime this week and apply in person and ask to speak to a hiring manager. I remember my dad giving me that advice when I first moved down to Sarasota and it worked then. Hopefully it will work now as well, although the economy is still in the dumps. I've been praying a lot for a job. The hard part is realizing I'm going to have to take a pay cut from what I'm used to, which is pretty hard to swallow. After receiving a certain salary you start to feel entitled to it instead of being grateful that you're paid well enough to make it and also put some away in savings should you choose to. This may sound weird, but I can't wait to start saving money again. I almost look at it as a game of how much I can save and how little I can live on.
The other nice part about having an income is being able to give generously. I love giving to missions and my church. I love supporting the work of the kingdom and seeing people reveal Christ to different parts of the world. Missionaries don't ever 'bring' Christ to other places, they simply reveal that He's already there in their midst. It's really cool that I get to be a part of that. As any missionary will tell you, if you support them whether through prayer or finances it's a huge blessing to them and the only reason they're able to do what they do. Of course, as a friend just mentioned on her blog, if you're a Christian, you're a missionary. No matter where we find ourselves, we are to proclaim the gospel, both in word and deed. St. Francis said to preach the word of God everyday, if necessary use words. I heard a speaker at a youth conference a few years ago preach about this and he said that we would of course need to use words, we need to open our mouths. Who is in our worlds that we can impact for Christ? And we don't have to shove it down people's throats either, but people should at least know that we are Christians so if they have any questions we're ready to answer, in season or out of season. Sometimes the best answer is "I don't know" because at least you're being honest at that point.
In youth group we often saw kids bring their friends to church. There's nothing wrong with that but at the same time they needed to realize (and my youth pastor was good about telling them this) that they themselves were the primary missionaries called by God to impact their friends' lives. A lot of people, whether in youth group or as an adult even, just try to get people to go to church with them. Again, this is fine sometimes, but a lot of times it's nothing more than a cop out to have someone else share the gospel with their friends when they're the ones who should be the primary sharers of the Word. We are called to meet together as Christians but we're also called to be sent out into the world, not just stay in a church building and expect the culture around us to come to us. I am guilty of this oftentimes. Of just playing it safe and having my Christian friends and never reaching out to people in the culture around me. It requires getting out of one's comfort zone; which is hard to do because it's exactly that, comfortable. How can we impact the world around us though if we stay in our comfort zones? Light is best used in darkness.
May we become people who ask God and echo Isaiah, "Here am I, send me."
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