Brought to Belleview - Like an Eagle

I have been at my job for well over 4 years.  I was only a few months removed from my five year anniversary.  The stability of my home and job was all I needed, I thought.  I worked to gain the respect of many of my fellow associates and the management team.  I did the only thing I knew how to do as taught by my mother and father.  Go to work every day and do above and beyond what you are required and do it with respect.  In late May and early June, the dynamics changed, hours were being cut back and gas prices were being raised.  Suddenly, the financial aspect of employment was leaving very little breathing room.  What had once been a nice cushion suddenly became thinner and thinner.  Yet, I refuse to let it deter me.  I drove to work each day and gave my all.  I was defiant to anything else.  Just go to work and come home, go to work and come home, my life had basically become a broken record.  God was not finished.  As each day passed, He pressed upon my heart more earnestly the call to the ministry.  He wanted to lead me to a different aspect in ministry and life.  I wrestled with Him.  It was not feasible for me I argued.  I have a job and a family support.  I don’t have the time to look for a church or churches to speak at.   One day, after a day off work, I went through my daily paper work and a red flag was raised.  A personal deal had transpired on a manger’s car that was borderline theft.  I brought the matter to the attention of the higher management team which called for an investigation.  After a week long ordeal the matter was settled, but not in the minds of the manager and those who were involved.  Whatever pleasure and happiness I had from work were quickly sapped out of the workplace.  A month passed as I endured the changed emotional dynamic of the workplace another dishonest issue came up.  It became the final straw.  I called my wife to seek her counsel and console.  She said something to me that I still remember this day: “You know what God wants; this could be His showing you to let it go”.  After I got off the phone, I did the only other thing I knew to do.  I prayed.  Then I realized the sermon that I preached on the eagle the summer before.  An eagle lines her nest with leaves or any other soft scraps that she is able to salvage in preparation for the eaglet and to make the nest a place of comfort.  After the eaglet has hatched and the time has come for the eaglet to learn to fly the mother eagle will lead them from the nest.  Every so often there is a stubborn one.  He refuses to leave the comfort of his nest which hinders his ability to learn to fly.  The mother eagle would hover her wings over the nest and the violent force of wind from her flapping her long wingspan would simply blow away and remove the items of comfort.  The eaglet has now lost its comfort zone.  It is left with no other option but to leave the nest.  I was the stubborn eaglet.  I had become rooted to my comfort zone.  My nest had been stirred and God had removed my comforts.  I walked into the manager’s office and explained to them my feelings and shook his hand and turned in my badge.  As I walked out of the building, I felt a weight lifted off my shoulders.  I felt free.  I felt like I could fly.  My nest had been stirred and I was now flying with wings like an eagle.  To where?  I didn’t know, but I was simply waiting on God.