To my family and friends,
It’s a pleasure to have the opportunity to write to you all again. It doesn’t seem like a year has passed since I wrote to you about graduating from FSU. Now, one year later, allow me to recap the past year and share a little about what I plan to do in the near future.
Since last August I have been working at the Florida Department of Elder Affairs doing data entry. It’s by no means glamorous but it is another example of God’s provision in my life. But it’s now time to make a change. Starting this August I will be cutting back to a part-time job at Elder Affairs and will begin a part-time job with the Navigators, a collegiate ministry at Florida State University. This is the same ministry that I was involved with as a student for four years and as a volunteer leader this past year. Some of you may remember that back in the spring of ‘06 I wrestled with the idea of joining Navigators staff in a full-time capacity. This was once again an option but this time it became clear to me that, while it was the right time to make a change, leaving the workforce entirely was not the right move to make.
Want to know more about this decision? In June I will be mailing out the first edition of my ministry update and support letter. I know many of you have signed up to receive a copy, but if you haven’t please follow this link and sign up: http://jaledwith.com/newsletter.
I would not have believe this a year ago, but I can honestly say that the past twelve months have been far more difficult than any year I spent in college. I was not prepared to go back to the bottom of life’s totem pole nor for the challenge of staying relationally connected. I struggled with knowing what my purpose was and where to derive my value. I imagine this will continue to be a struggle in the coming years as I strive toward big goals in small steps. What I have to remember, what we all have to remember, is that it isn’t our achievements or lack thereof that define us. We are more than our resume, more than our pay grade. More even than the fruit of our ministry or the strength of our relationships. From start to finish we are precious and intrinsically valuable in the eyes of our Creator. He has established our true worth by sending His Son to die for us.
My near future holds a number of thing you could be praying for:
1) I am currently in Tallahassee enjoying this Memorial Day weekend. On Tuesday, May 29 I will be traveling to Colorado Springs for one week to receive training for this new part-time position with the Navigators. Pray that I would have a teachable heart open to instruction.
2) When I return on June 4 I will begin fund raising for this position while at the same time still working full-time at Elder Affairs. This will not be easy, but financially it is the only decision to make. Please pray for my strength, both physical and emotional. Pray also for the people I’ll be contacting during my fund raising, that they will catch the vision I’m casting and will want to join my support team.
3) Just days ago my sister left my family’s home in Connecticut to study abroad in Cordoba, Argentina for six weeks. Pray for her safety.
4) Pray for the dormitory ministry at FSU. Once again we have a large number of students choosing to move back into resident halls in order to be the Gospel for incoming freshmen and returning students living on campus. I will be laboring in one of these dorm, though I don’t know which one yet. Pray for missional community to be established in each of these dorms and for all different kinds of people to be attracted to that community.
5) This August I will be moving into a duplex. My roommates will be Kyle and Luke. The other side of the duplex will house Nicki, Helen and Alyssa. All of us will be on staff with the Navigators next year. It’s going to be a tremendous experience. We need your prayers as individuals. Two of us are new to Nav staff, two of us are new to full-time staff. We also need your prayers as a community. Some of us have lived together before, but each of us will have at least one new roommate. Pray for all of these transitions and for genuine, authentic community to be established.
I will continue to update my blog (jaledwith.com) with what I am doing on a day-to-day basis. I am grateful to you for your thoughts and prayers. I would love to hear from each of you and find out what you’re up to. I hope this letter finds you well. I look forward to seeing each of you again. God bless!
![[Post to Twitter]](http://jaledwith.com/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/tweet-this-small.png)
Tweet This
0 Response to “State of the Andrew Address 2007”