25 Years In Collegedale, Now What?

Life Hasn't Gone As Planned I had just graduated after four years at Southern Adventist University and I was single. I couldn’t figure out what had happened with my plans. I should be getting married by now so that I could settle into a job with a wife and kids on the way. Now what? I was living near campus and I had a job lined up for the summer, but nothing planned after that. Should I leave Collegedale? I had lived here since I was one year old. I wanted to leave but do I dare leave an area with such a large population of single Adventist women? I took short term jobs for a few months and thankfully around this time an amazing opportunity opened up for me. I would take the job of one of my previous bosses at Southern. My connections at Southern had paid off, as I knew the Associate Vice President who was hiring for the open position. It was an opportunity that I would never have expected to get so soon after college. I was now the Audio-Visual Event Supervisor for the entire campus. I had a crew of 12-18 students working for me and we ran dozens of events every month on campus. Something Has To Change It has now been over 3 years since I graduated from Southern. About a year ago I began to realize something.  I had dated a few different women but with each of them, I was changing my life drastically based off of who I was dating. Depending on the woman, I would be more or less spiritual, I would listen to different types of music, or I would be more or less active outdoors. When I was asked what I wanted to do with my life or where I wanted to live, I always replied with something to the effect of “it depends on what my wife wants to do”.  Since then I have talked to Pastor’s and friends about this and I began to realize that this mindset was not healthy. I was placing a hold on my life just so that I could find “the one” before I left the Adventist pool of single women. I also realized that I want to be a better husband than the single man that I am today. I have grown lazy with my spiritual life and have not followed the beliefs that I know to be true. I began keeping the Sabbath by turning off the TV, reading my Bible, and going to church. I also started having a daily devotional before I went to bed every night and I quit watching countless hours of TV. I am always working to be better and to grow closer with Christ. This new mindset has changed my life. God, What Next? As I’ve been gaining a closer walk with Christ I began to think about where He might want me to be. I don’t think He wants me to be a pastor, or anything like that, but surely there is something He would have me do for Him? Most recently I’ve been thinking about mission work. Maybe God wants me to help bring souls to Him in the many places that are unreached overseas? A few weeks ago, I was walking through a building on campus and happened to see a missionary friend. Her and her husband are probably the only missionaries that I really know. I walked past her after saying “hi” but I suddenly felt like now was the only time to say something. I figured they probably don’t come to the states very often, let alone to the campus, so I decided to go back and talk to her. I told her I had been considering being a missionary and just wanted to mention it to her. She was kind of surprised. As it turned out, they were in need of someone to fill a position that she felt I would be perfect for. They asked me to come back a little later and interview for the position. The job sounded amazing! I would be the Marketing and Social Media Manager for the Guam Micronesia Mission group based in Guam. The interview got me very excited about this opportunity and as I began to tell family and friends, I was shocked at the support I had. They encouraged me to pray about it and if God was leading, take it immediately. I agreed completely as ever since the interview, I have been praying like I have never prayed before. I have felt closer to God now, than ever before and I have realized that even with doubts and fears of going to Guam, the only deciding factor for me, was if I felt that God wanted me to go. How Do I Decide? It's not easy figuring out what God wants me to do but since the interview there have been multiple things that could be called “signs” of Him saying “yes!”. In the first week of learning of the position, the sermon was about being a missionary at any cost. I went to work a few days later and there were some meetings that I was running sound for. It was as if the speaker was talking to me. She said that I should allow God to work in my life and not get stuck in a "bubble of safety" where I don't allow God to work in my life. Right before that same worship, there were pastors anointing anyone that wanted to be prayed with. I felt God leading me to step up and a pastor invited me to pray with him as he anointed me specifically for guidance on accepting this missionary position. If those three things alone can’t be taken as signs, then I don’t know what can be. Everyone has been so supportive of me going and every possible negative that I have come up with I have discovered that I’m okay with and I’ve put it in God’s hands. New Life So, I've decided. It's what I believe God wants me to do and it allows me to lay my life completely in His hands. I've decided to accept the missionary position in Guam. I'm excited to see what God has in store for me and I solicit your prayers as I begin this new journey.