In case you’re new to the blog, I have a series of posts on Tuesdays entitled, “Top 5.”  Each Tuesday I come up win a new and random top five list.  Because this has come up a few times in conversation this last week, I thought I’d examine and explore the top five things I have done in life that I NEVER thought I would have done or become.

The criteria.  As a teen, if you would have come to me (or even my friends) and said, “Brian, you will ____________ later in life!” the blank represents the five things that I would have thought you were crazy to have told me.

I think you’ll get the gist as we get going with the list.

So, without further ado, the list:

Five: Fallen in Love with Coffee. That’s right, I said it.  I do love Coffee.  However, I am not going to lie to you, you may think that I am addicted, it may look like I am addicted (based on how long I am at coffee shops), but I can tell you, I’m not.  I just love the taste and the atmosphere that surrounds the local coffee shop.  Not only this, but it has become my favorite personal mission field!  Before I was about 20 years old I HATED coffee, so telling me that I’d even like coffee would have been a joke.  Now it is a joke to tell me that I won’t be at a coffee shop today (because I will!).

Four: Go To India on a Two-Week Mission. I never really had a passion to go overseas, before being a Christian, and even after I was called.  But, in the year 2000 I was able to lead a group of 15 to an orphanage in Kota, India.  This trip has such an incredible impact on my life and future ministry.  In fact, in many ways it has led me to have even a bigger heart for the mission at home as I watched nationals reach their own far better than us Westerners could have ever done!  I praise the Lord for this unusual experience!

Three: Be a President of a Ministry. This one would have been pretty laughable.  Though I had been “Patrol Captain” in 6th grade, yep, that’s right, I was the cross-walk Guard President, I didn’t think that I would parlay that one into running a ministry organization.  However, God has given me a passion to train students and leaders for a life of mission (no matter where we are/go), and I believe this is what is at the heart of what Youthmark is doing and will do–therefore, I get to do this for a living now!  How cool is that?

"A man of the cloth" Not me.

Two: Be A Pastor.  When I started to write this list I thought this would have been the number one!  However, I did think of one that tops it.  16 years as a Youth Pastor/Associate Pastor  was certainly something I never thought I would have done.  Even now I look back upon those years and think, “I wasn’t really a Pastor was I?”  I never really felt “Pastor-ly” (and some may say I never acted that way too? Ha).  However, during those years I know that God shaped my heart to be a shepherd.  I don’t think I will ever step back into the Pastorate (I will never say never, but…), however, I know that the words Pastor and Elder are synonymous, and I strive to be elder-qualified and to be a shepherd wherever God has me!

One: Write a Book (let alone multiple books).  See, I still can’t write the words “become a writer/author” because I simply don’t see it.  My wife is the author, she can wordsmith and craft a sentence with the best of ’em.  But, here we are in 2009 and I have a published book, weird.  Though I won’t admit it, I really do love getting my thoughts into written form.  I feel writing is a craft I can pick up, not a talent that I posses, but this excites me, because in especially this arena I believe the written word is a HUGE opportunity to get people to HIS written Word!  My hope and desire is to get teens, youth workers and adults into the Word of God so that they can see that is ALL about Jesus, the cross and His desire for the redemption of His children!  So, yes, I would have laughed if you would have told me that I’d write.  But I am certainly thankful that I have the opportunity!

Pretty fun journey we call life.  I am sure there are several other things I never thought I’d do or be, and many things God still has in store for me in the future!  Thank you Jesus!

What about you?  Anything on this list surprise you?  And how about your own life, anything you never thought you’d do that God has allowed you to be a part of or become?

Grace,
Brian