"I didn't hear no bell..."

In the words of the great Rocky Balboa, "I didn't hear no bell."

This week has been a hard one, as I was asked to give and did give my resignation from my position as paid youth director. There is a whole mess of things that brought it to the point that it reached. Long and the short of it is that I was asked to step aside and rather than start a war, I did resign and began the move into the next chapter of my life.

Painful. I guess that is where I am at on the whole thing now. For the first day and half I kept waiting for someone to say that they were pulling my leg or to have the cameras pop-out and say "Surprise! You are on candid camera." But it just isn't going to happen. And the hurt, pain and sadness I feel for students and adults who I love deeply and who love me deeply aren't just going to go away.

But, like the great Rocky Balboa said near the end of Rocky V, "I didn't hear no bell." I certainly feel like I am in the midst of getting the crud kicked out of me. But it isn't over. Not by a long shot. I am very much certain that I am going to pick myself off the floor, dust of my sandals and find a new church to serve. No matter what men and women may say, my call is far greater. I know what I am called to do and who I am called to be. Being dismissed from one church isn't going to change that.

So, if you are the praying kind, pray for my friends who are being left to pick up the pieces of a situation that they didn't create and that they weren't consulted on. When I arrived at Cornerstone, one of the things I said was that I felt like my highest goal and most important use of my time would be to build a team of adults to minister to students. 4 years later, that group will keep doing exactly that and I could not be prouder of them. The kids come first and they are demonstrating that love and dedication in ways far better than I ever could. If they are the largest part of my legacy at Cornerstone, then I am humbled by the way they honor me and what I taught them by continuing on in the work God has called them to. (It isn't and never was about me...)

Pray for the students who are devastated. They are shocked, hurt, and feeling like the church has betrayed them and their hearts in a major way. Pray that they would fix their eyes on Jesus and that He will carry them on. (It isn't and never was about me...)

And lastly, pray for the folks who are rejoicing in the midst of the mourners. (It isn't and never was about me...)

And I will close with the words from a David Wilcox song:
"Look, if Someone wrote a play
just to glorify what's stronger than hate,
would they not arrange the stage
To look as if the Hero came too late
He's almost in defeat
It's looking like the Evil side will win,
so on the edge of every seat,
from the moment that the whole thing begins
It is... Love who makes the mortar
And it's love who stacked these stones
And it's love who made the stage here
Although it looks like we're alone
In this scene set in shadows
Like the night is here to stay
There is evil cast around us
But it's love that wrote the play... For in this darkness love can show the way."