Come Holy Spirit Come.  Come as the fire and burn, come as the water and cleanse, convict, convert, consecrate my words to your great glory, in Christ name.  Amen

It was a good idea at the time. 

My judgment and reasoning were sound.

Given the state of today's economy...I should not complain.

It was about a year ago.  I had a job that I loved.  It had its challenges like all jobs do.  There were challenging people to work with, as all jobs do.  It paid more than some, less than others but I was comfortable.  But I had that itch.  I had worked in public policy and advocacy for a long time.  That itch-before the economy really turned south-was pulling at me.  I knew I needed a change.  Yes I DID! 

Well low and behold a call, actually an e-mail from a friend came.  And it said you know John, you're a really good salesman for the Episcopal Church.  Would you consider the position attached?

I open the job description and the position is as a development officer for a famous, nationally known, Episcopal institution and landmark.  Raising money!  Me?!? Asking strangers for money?  Me?!?  No way! 

Now at this point in the story I have to tell you that when I worked on Capitol Hill, I hated every lobbyist that walked through the door and swore that there was no way I could ever be a lobbyist.  Of course when the opportunity to be a lobbyist for the Episcopal Church opened up, I took a leap of faith and sure enough I loved the job.  I loved just about every second of it.  So I had learned my lesson about "never saying never" and I promised my friend that we could talk more about it.  And we did.

It was a good idea at the time!  After thinking and praying and a lot of conversation, I took the plunge.  Here was this opportunity to take my years in Washington in public policy and add a new, very valuable, potentially lucrative skill set to my background and after a few years, I can write my own ticket in Washington.  Or at least I've made myself more attractive as a potential candidate for some job in the future. 

It was a good idea at the time.  My judgment and reasoning were sound.  Given the state of the economy today, I should not complain.  And I am very grateful and fortunate.  I have survived two rounds of layoffs.  I have learned a lot of very important new skills and learn something new each day.  I've even raised more that I cost, which is a great comfort.  But the reality is that the job and the opportunity that I walked into just seven months ago has drastically changed.  The economy is in the toilet, and it isn't getting better anytime soon.  I've literally had four bosses in the past seven months.  And any day now, I expect another copy of the book Who Moved My Cheese to somehow magically appear on my desk-which has happened in two of my previous jobs.

So what are the lessons I've gained out of this experience thus far?  Well the first is a bit trite but no less true...the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence-in fact sometimes it is just dead and brown but you don't know it until you are well past that point of no return.  The other lesson is that sometimes you just have to take a chance.  For all of the irritation, disappointment, aggravation, consternation and difficulty that "good idea at the time" has brought into my life; I am richer.  I have learned so much.  And when I walk through the doors of St. Thomas' Parish and I look at those designs on the wall, I am INSPIRED.  I'm getting that itch.  Not necessarily to leave my current job.  But that itch, that pull that you start to feel deep in your gut when you know something needs to change, something needs to happen.

Now I'm not proud of it, but I do have to admit that I have indeed read Who Moved My Cheese.  And if you have and it was great for you I don't mean to take anything away from your experience.  The book, in my humble opinion, which on many levels does have some important words of wisdom has classically been misused by CEOs, managers or human resource directors.  They make copies available right before the organization they run is to be subjected to some kind of dramatic, wildly un-wise, cataclysmically disastrous reorganizations of one kind or another or layoffs or whim.  Rather the book-a lesson on what to do when someone moves your cheese of life-should be given to an employee on day one.  You should be told, hey, it might get bumpy out there.  This has helped others and you might appreciate it too. 

If the world would just let me be in charge-right?

Now, there is one page in that book.  One sentence that again in my opinion is of any value.  It is a question, and it asks the reader, "What could you accomplish if you weren't afraid?"

What could I accomplish, if I were not afraid of losing my job?  What could I do to change the world if I just didn't have to worry about making a fool out of myself?  What could we do, if we weren't afraid of the consequences of failure?  What could St. Thomas' do if we weren't afraid to build a new building?  What could we accomplish if we were so bold and so prophetic that people laughed at our naiveté, reckless, idealistic, notions but we didn't care and boldly off we go anyway!