[Editor's note: The  following story was originally published on Rhonda's blog on October 20, 2009. View it here: http://musingrhonda.blogspot.com/2009/10/writing-on-wall.htm]

There is no place more beautiful than upstate New York in the summer. The weather is perfect and the people are happy to be warm and unthawed. The Adirondacks are at their best, the fishing is world class and the shops are buzzing with Canadians looking for a deal. So our lives on June 10th of 2009 were just as perfect. Rob’s sister was getting married, it was Arianna’s 9th birthday and our church was poised for a great revival. Happiness for everyone! And then…it came…an email from a holy, dear and trusted friend. We hovered over our laptop together and read it again and again, hoping it would make sense the 7th time, the 8th time.

It read:

Blessings Pastor Rob,
I was in prayer yesterday and the Holy Spirit told me to contact you. The Lord gave me a word for you.
He said, “take the job offer and leave the church.”
Grace and peace
Cody

Rob and I looked at each other. “What? Job offer? What job offer, there’s no job offer…leave the church? Now? No. Never. We’re happy. Finally happy. Job offer? There’s no job offer…and even if there were…why would we leave? We’re happy. We don’t need to leave. We just hit our stride!”

Rob paced the floor. Cody wasn’t the type to throw out a heavy “thus saith the Lord” without the worn knees to back it up. So we paused and reflected.

“Maybe God is trying to humble me,” Rob lamented, “because the Church is doing so great…I’m so proud of how far we’ve come…I don’t deserve it. He wants me to take a job and leave ministry….ya think?”

“That’s crazy,” I countered, dutifully as the voice of wisdom (as all wives are). “Maybe Cody had too much coffee, or not enough. Sometimes well meaning, Godly people, miss it,” I reasoned.

After all, I just finished school and got a job. We just remodeled our house…and the church! The church had gone from dead to vibrant. We were off and running on every level. This was no time to pack up!

Rob hit “Reply” and let Cody know that there was no job offer but would keep his eyes open for God to move unexpectedly. Read the rest of this entry »