When it is Time to Leave

Dan Reiland is a good friend of a good friend of mine. Dan Reiland writes a column called The Pastor's Coach. This week's column talked about understanding when it was time to leave. It was a great read, and really reaffirming for me. One of the bullet points was titled Pay attention to your inner sense of being released from the work. He said, Being “released” (I don't mean fired) is common language but sometimes difficult to know for sure. When God starts to release you from a ministry, He begins to disengage your heart, lift the burden, and your sense of ownership begins to fade. It's not that you no longer care about the people, but no matter how you slice it, you don't feel the same as you once did. The reason this is difficult is because we all have some of those thoughts from time to time on a temporary basis. When God releases you, it is a permanent thing, and you know you are done.

This summer I had that release while hiking to prepare for the Epic Journey: Walk the River backpacking trips that took place this summer. It was a good conversation with God about where He wanted to take me. It was a conversation. I had a lot of hard questions when I began to realize God was asking me to release the ministry I was entrenched in. What would my life be? Wasn't I doing what God had made me to do? Something I was holding onto so tightly needed to be let go of. God knew that.

God has been very good to me in that some awesome men have entered my life and walked beside me. Sometimes, the number grew by the day. But, there is that small, inner circle of guys that have my heart, and I have theirs. But, that isn't the release the article was talking about. He wasn't referring to the release of the beautiful friendships. He was talking about the release from a job in a ministry. I loved what I did in ministry, but God released me. My brothers have also released me from that ministry, but they have not released me from relationship. They are good men who love me. Despite the log in my eye.