Merry Christmas from the Smith clan of Utah. Well, not the Joseph
Smith clan, but still a Smith clan.
Here it is, Christmas Eve, and I find I haven’t posted a
thang on here in 8 months.
Yikes. (that’s pronounced
“yi-kuss” in the Smith house). And
now, there is so much to say, I’m a bit tongue-tied. Or finger bound.
Or whatever it is where you don’t know how to start and you’re typing. Here's my attempt at an update. It's gonna be long. You're forewarned.
Back in May, or thereabouts, Karen and I began making plans
to open a restaurant; a breakfast restaurant to be more specific. I was pondering menu ideas, looking at
location options and costs, girding my loins for the financial risks we were
going to assume. I took an
extension class at the local university on starting a business. I got a job at Starbucks with a two-fold
purpose: get some experience
working in food service, and have health benefits while working part-time, so
that ultimately I could leave my pastoral position at church and have health
insurance for the fam while we started up the restaurant.
And then God intervened.
You see, back in 2011, I had applied and been accepted to
begin work on a master’s degree in professional counseling. But after being accepted, the thought
of doing anything that involved ministry was just not attractive. I was exhausted, defeated, weary, tired
of complainers and apathy and people who criticize, and worn out trying to
assist in leading what felt like a resistant group of Christians, many of whom
did not seem to want to give themselves whole heartedly to Jesus and follow him
with joy and abandon.
And then the cost of the degree freaked me out. Pay a butt-load of money to learn
how to keep helping people who don’t really want to be helped? No thanks.
End result?
Dropped the idea of the master’s degree and kept my eyes open for what
other change might be available, attractive, enticing.
And so, after a year and a half, we were on our way to this
breakfast place – The Cinnamon Shack
was our tentative name – when I had a conversation with a long-time friend I
hadn’t seen in a while. He asked
me about life, and I told him what we were planning. And out of the blue, he asked me why wasn’t I thinking about
going into counseling. Years
earlier, we had worked together, and he reminded me that I was a useful
sounding board and instrumental in helping him. From his perspective, it only made sense for me incorporate
it more intentionally into my life and profession.
I dismissed my wise friend with, “I need to do something
besides ministry.”
But that conversation stayed with me for the next week. Constantly. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. God kept pulling at me, making me think about why I didn’t
want to pursue a counseling degree. It seemed like God was saying, "Why aren't you thinking about this, Rich?"
(For those of you reading this who think I’m delusional to believe God
had some part of this, that’s okay.
I’m not offended. I just
don’t agree with you.) After several days of thinking and praying, I realized
I wasn’t in the same place I was in 2011, and that while I did want to do
something different from the work I’m currently doing, I also wanted to be
involved with bringing the hope, peace and contentment I know in Jesus to other
people; and having some counseling tools in my belt would be a great way to do
that.
So, that brings me to today. If you live here in Utah and attend CenterPoint Church you
know this, but for the rest of you, as of the end of December I’m resigning
from my church job. I’ll continue
working at Starbucks while I get my master’s degree. If all goes according to plan (and let’s face it, things
rarely go according to plan), I’ll be finished in May of 2016. The next two and half years are a
bit unknowable – we aren’t exactly sure how it’s all going to work, especially
the money part, but Karen and I both are quite content, at peace even, that
this is what’s next. What will we
do when I’m done? Not sure. Could be back in pastoral ministry,
could be exclusively counseling, could be some hybrid of the two, could be
something completely unexpected.
We’re grateful to skip through life with our passionately loving God,
and to face all our obstacles with Him.
That’s my update.
Now for the less angsty.
These won’t be as wordy, mainly because I know what I was thinking, but
while I am an amazing father and husband, as evidenced by my ability to live
with 4 women and all of us still enjoy each other, I’m still not very adept at
reading their minds. Which, come
to think of it, is a good thing.
I’m sure I’d be a bit disconcerted if I knew what they were thinking
sometimes.
At Snow Canyon, southern Utah, back in June |
Anya has finished her third semester at Utah State in Logan, and did it in fine form. She’s majoring in something that has to do with early childhood, but is broader than that; it’s like family and child development, or something. She’s told me repeatedly, but I’ve asked so many times that I just can’t ask anymore because I feel like an old man asking a teenager about an iPhone. (You can do what with that? In my day, we had our phone on the wall and we turned the dial and it took 30 seconds to dial a number and the connection was pitiful…and we were happy) I just know that she’ll be able to work with small children, but also have a wider range of skillzzzz. She’s taking next semester off to earn some money so that Utah State can keep getting paid. And as always, she is still every child’s favorite baby sitter, in Cache County and Utah County. (You think I’m kidding, or exaggerating, or I’m just a cloying parent. I’m not. Children ask their parents to go out just so they can have Anya. She’s that spectacular. Well, some kids do. For reals.)
Salt and Pepper at Halloween |
Edmund Dantes, the sock monkey |
Silhouette self-portrait |
Snowman pinata with hand knitted scarf |
Emily has played around with photography. At first it was for a class, but then
she actually started to enjoy it.
When we need something to look good, or arty, we put Emily behind he
camera. Unfortunately, that means we have fewer pictures of her.
We’re not sending out Christmas cards/pictures this
year. I’ve been working way too
much to have time to put that together.
I should have just tasked Jenna with it; it would have looked way better
than anything I would have come up with, I wouldn’t have had the stress and she
would have had a grand time. Too
late now. Maybe we’ll send out a
family Valentine. Jenna, when you read this, consider yourself asked.
Merry Christmas everyone!