These Are the Nebraska Years

Jon Acuff, in his book Quitter, wrote this passage that seemed particularly fitting.

These are the years when you'll travel 2,000 miles in cold temperatures to speak to fewer people than an NFL team. These are the years you'll throw away canvas after canvas because the colors refuse to cooperate. These are the years you'll teach three people how to swing dance when the studio space you rented would fit eighty.

What Jon is describing is the period of time that everyone goes through before they arrive at their dream. My dream is to be a pastor. My dream is to work at a church and minister to people. My dream is to share God's Word with others. My dream is to see lives changed through God's working.

Right now, my dream hasn't come true. I send out resumes and get no response. I have a Sunday School class with two people in it. I get asked to preach about once a month (and I am extremely thankful for it). Sometimes I get asked to preach at the church two hours from my house that has a congregation of 12 people. I write a blog that, on a good day, 16 people will visit.

These are the Nebraska years.

I'm going to look back one day and see that it was all worth it. Right now, it's a little hard to do.