So today’s my first day on the STMnetwork job. So far, so fun! I had some time to really reflect on what I’m launching into on my way home from dropping my son off at the baby sitter’s this morning.
I’ve been staying home with my kids now for almost 2 years. I’ve rediscovered what life is all about in that time away from full-time ministry. What an identity crisis though! At first, I didn’t know what to tell people I was anymore. I used to say when asked: I’m a youth pastor. That was easy though, because #1 – I was, and #2 – it gave me a real solid identity. When I left that job, I wasn’t sure how to answer that question. I came up with answers like: speaker guy (because I’ve done some of that in the interim), unemployed bum, self-employed pseudo-bum, renovations guy (because I’ve done some of that too), and finally a stay-at-home dad. That last answer, when given by itself, usually raised the most eyebrows! Not a lot of guys do that for a living, but I learned to be proud of it, and to embrace my new identity. My wife worked very hard for those almost 2 years so that i didn’t have to, and it helped me refocus my priorities and life purposes.
So why all the reminiscing? Well, now that I’ve started a new job, in the “missions” world, I want to make sure I don’t give my now old but previously newfound identity the shaft. My real mission is to live my best life now (no i haven’t read Joel Osteen’s book, and likely never will) with my wife and kids, to be the most amazing husband and father I can be with God’s help, and to keep the Great Commission the focus of everything I do around those things.
The STMnetwork will get the best of my 9am-5pm days, and some evenings and weekends when needed. Sounds like a cell phone plan! BUT, my family will know that they are my #1 priority: my real mission. Thank you God for Heather, Emma, and Tyler.
Can’t wait to get this thing going!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 15th, 2006 at 5:43 pm and is filed under STM Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.