(this is the 2nd part of a two-part blog. for the first half of the story, and to figure out what in the world i’m talking about, click here.) 

i was newly married and unemployed.
then i got a job at a christian book store. the owner was a friend, and he knew i needed a job. so i worked for much less than any of my previous positions—which really wasn’t anything to brag about.
the position was intended to be temporary. i worked there for almost a year.
in the process i learned all about Christian books, music, record companies, etc.
while it was fun, it wasn’t a career position—i wanted to get back in the professional world, not the retail one.

every sunday i would get the newspaper, comb through the classifieds, write cover letters and fax letter and resume every monday morning before work.
this was my routine every single week.
and for a year, nothing changed.

well other than the fact that i found out we were expecting our first child.

something had to give.

the pressure was on. finally something opened up and i worked for a company that placed newspaper ads for a large retail furniture company. i didn’t like the job, but it was at least back in the professional world. and i had a son on the way. so i was willing to suck it up and deal with whatever i needed to do, including tolerating a chain-smoking boss who took smoke breaks every 10 minutes.

and then something unexpected happened. a friend of mine worked at Walk Thru the Bible Ministries and a job came open for the editor of their student devotional magazine, YouthWalk. he thought i would be great for the job.
so i applied. went through a lengthy interview process. thought they hired someone else and was ready to dismiss it as “not meant to be.”

then i got the call. and the job.

and while i had no clue what i was doing at first, i came alive. i dreamed. i created. i grew. i found my voice. i wrote a book. i interviewed musicians and authors. and while not every single moment was magical (because this is reality, friends), the entire experience shaped me in so many ways. (that bookstore experience came in very handy at this point. the “random” time of transition in my life wasn’t so random.)

but everything has a season. and after 10 years there, it was time to move on.
i searched within the company, in every department, to see if there was some way i could stay. but it just wasn’t meant to be. nothing clicked with who i am and how i’m wired.

so i started looking outside. my wife and i were even willing to move—if you know me well, you know this is huge.

and God opened another door. i sent a random email one day to a company called The reThink Group. i commended them for the cool things they were doing, and said if they ever needed an editor/writer, to let me know.
they did.
and i’ve been here ever since.

see the path from where you are to where you want to be isn’t always clear.
and sometimes the journey has more to do with God shaping who you are and teaching you what you need to know, than your own cleverness in making the next right step.

and while each place brought its own challenges, frustrations and disappointments, i grew through every good and bad situation.

in 1990, if you would ever told me that i would be doing what i do now, i wouldn’t have believed you.
i would have thought i should have arrived here sooner. but in hindsight, i’m glad i didn’t. i wasn’t ready.
i would have probably looked at my career path and thought it was erratic, undisciplined.
but it’s been a path that has been guided by a God who made me and sees so much farther than i ever could.

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