I preached a sermon at the chapel in the hospital yesterday. It was about Moses and te Israelites wandering in the wilderness. On a trek on foot, going from Egypt to Israel would take a few months, but it took them 40 years. No wonder they were tired, frustrated and cranky. They were going the circuitous route, and the wilderness was hot and dusty desert.
I feel like my entry into ministry is much the same way. I thought I would go into mission work as a lay person. God sent me to seminary instead. I thought this meant I was to do parrish ministry. God had other plans. As a hospital chaplain, I am learning a lot about human suffering. Perhaps the pain of the politics in parrish ministry, and the learning I am doing in the hospital is what I needed to really be able to do mission work effectively.
Or perhaps God has something else entirely planned for me. I just hope and pray to God that it doesn't take me 40 years to figure it out.
