Two days ago I told you how God led us to Calgary, Alberta, to serve at the Dalhousie Community Church. Yesterday I let you in on the crazy year we had when we arrived as the entire staff team resigned and God began turning me inside out to prepare me for the pastoral position. Today I’m going to tell you what happened next.
Two weeks after I said yes to Jesus’ question, “Would you follow me into this position if it meant your family would become a casualty for me?”, I was sitting at a Spiritual Leadership Team meeting. The team was discussing what to do about our vacant slate of pastoral positions. About the Lead Pastor position.
One of the men turned to me and asked,”Would you consider applying for this position?”
Without hesitating, I said, I said…
“No.”
No, I would not apply. If the congregation asked me to become the Lead Pastor, if they were convinced I was the only guy in the running because they sensed God’s leading, then I would accept that offer. But would I apply if this wasn’t already on the heart of the church? If it wasn’t their idea, and just mine? After the entire pastoral team resigned and people were streaming out the back door? Not on your life.
Well, the church did ask me to consider the position, which I did. During that time, God drew my attention to this passage in the book of Revelation: “Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” (Rev. 6:1). Not that this was a fulfillment of prophecy, but that this passage would be descriptive of my call to the Lead Pastor position here. Was it literal? Figurative? Something else? Thunder? Really? Was I on crack? Who knew?
A month later, the church had welcomed me with open arms into the Lead Pastor position with a strong percentage on the vote. God’s people had spoken. But I was still looking for God’s affirmation, and it came two nights later.
I had just awoke with a jump because Joel, our youngest, was screaming his way through a gripping nightmare. Shauna sat up too, but I leapt to my feet to go help Joel. I hadn’t gone more than five or six steps when a thunderclap rocked our house like a stock car getting battered in battle. I mean, this was the loudest thunder I’ve ever heard. Noah, our oldest, stumbled up the stairs from the basement, thinking that the house was collapsing. The reverberations were that severe. Shauna was looking out the window when it hit, and she said that the lightning bolt had crackled and snapped right outside her window, between us and the house across the street!
By the time our hearts were beating normally again Shauna and I were kneeling humbly beside our bed, thanking God for keeping his promise, thanking God for the clearest confirmation we have ever received. You know how people often remark, “I just wish God would make lightning strike?” Yeah. Been there.
It’s scary. And by the way, there were no other thunderclaps. No storm. Just the one bang.
What are some of the ways God has confirmed his will for your life?