Honest Witness

First, a milestone. This is post #1000. I knew it was coming, but I thought it was a few posts away. Post #1000.

Anyway...

I mentioned earlier that I have started a new job. My new job is very much unrelated to my old job. My old job was in diabetes research; my new job is with a faith-based foundation.

I was in a meeting today with a gentleman who is not related to the church. He asked, "What caused you to make such a dramatic change?"

I looked at him and didn't know what to say. So I said, "God. I've been waiting for something to come along, and this is it."

I was thinking about this answer on the way home. After I said it, I new it was true, but I felt uncomfortable with it -- not with the truth of it, but with the honesty of it -- honesty with someone I had never met before, who was not part of the church. It certainly doesn't feel like a very business savvy answer.

In my old job, I couldn't talk about my faith. The only way that I could witness to my faith was in the way I acted -- in the way I treated other people. It was a silent witness. I realized on the way home that one of the reasons that this job feels right is that because I am working in a church-related position, I will be able to share my faith -- to witness to God -- in a verbal manner as well as through actions. That's a good thing.

I was reading a file today, going through the paperwork of an endowment. I had this strong feel that while this foundation does act as a trustee of funds, it also acts as a trustee of people's acts of agape. While we enable ministry through funding, we also are a repository of acts of faith. Reading the files, I was privileged to read people's witness of God's presence in their lives.

It could be that my very honest answer to a stranger was a bad business move. Perhaps it could be the wrong way to act in a business meeting. Maybe I need to craft a better answer to that question.

I do wonder, though, that if I believe that God has moved me into the place, then just maybe, even if it is uncomfortable and unusual, that I should present an honest witness.

I'll have to think more about it.

Image: Stained glass at First UMC, Ashland