The same thing happened to me twice this weekend.
The first time was at the wedding on Saturday. As I took my place at the front of the sanctuary, I had the overwhelming sense that I would be serving again soon as a pastor. I think it's the first time that thought has crossed my mind over the past few months. It's been easy to conclude that such an outcome is simply impossible - and I have carried that specific impossibility around for a few weeks now. Standing there at the beginning of the wedding on Saturday, though, a very different feeling swept over me. And I suddenly felt a deep sense of peace and confidence as I thought about God's call and God's gifting and God's ability to do whatever it is that he pleases.
The same thing happened a second time on Sunday. Driving to Detroit to pick up Molly and Julie, I stopped once again to worship at Hopevale in Saginaw. During Pastor Dan's sermon, I once again felt this overwhelming sense that I would be serving again soon as a pastor. And what caught my attention on Sunday was the joy that I felt in that realization. After the service I talked with Pastor Dan and shared with him my recent story. We had talked several times last fall - and he had been a great encouragement to me. My first greeting on Sunday caught his ear. I said: "I don't know if you remember me, but we met last fall. I was a pastor up north." He said first that he did, in fact, remember me. Then he quickly said, "What do you mean . . . was?" Talking with him, I felt a deep sense of hope and confidence. And I thought again about God's call and God's gifting.
In that moment, I knew deep in my heart that God can do whatever God wants to do.
In the afterglow of what I had felt on Saturday, Sunday's similar feeling was something I simply could not ignore.