Friday, July 16, 2021

The Morning of a Candidacy Committee Meeting

 Today at 3:30, I meet with the Candidacy Committee of the Florida-Bahamas Synod of the Lutheran Church (ELCA).  We will meet by Zoom.  

I have now had many Zoom meetings, and my main concern is that the technology might fail.  I'll stay at my school office for the Zoom session, since my school's internet connection is more stable than my home connection, but I also got a phone number, just in case I'm having trouble and need to let them know.  My church is nearby, so if it's solely an internet issue, I can zip over there.  If we're having a huge storm and lose power, I'll use my cell phone to call the group to let them know.  Hopefully they won't hold tech stuff against me; hopefully, I won't have issues.

In pre-pandemic days, I would have driven to the center of the state and spent two days with the committee.  I'm not sure what we would have done with the extra time.  I know we'd have eaten together and prayed together.  A Zoom session can't replicate those opportunities to get to know each other.

I'm not sure if we would have all met in conjunction with other synodical business.  It would have been done outside of Synod Assembly.

I have spent the week re-reading the documents that I created back in February as I applied for both candidacy and seminary.  I have been taking moments to remember to breathe deeply.  When I created those documents and sent them in to the various people and institutions, I knew that I might be setting lots of changes into motion.  But I knew that I was ready.

I'm not taking anything for granted today, as I meet with the committee.  I think that I'm a good candidate, but I know that the committee might disagree.  I want to be open to their wisdom.

I also want to be open to the movings of the Holy Spirit--I'm firmly convinced that I've been brought to this point for a reason, a reason that is only slowly being revealed to me.  I have heard God saying, "I have need of you."  I have felt that tugging at my soul.

Let us see what the day brings.

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