Already in Motion | 1 Samuel 9

(laughs) - I mean, kinda, yeah. - It's all this spider-man. - Here's to this. - That's a hot take on this story. Guys, that this is my brain. Leave me alone. - Well, no, kind of, no, no, no, no. It is, because Saul didn't expect any of this. - No, what is true? - He's suddenly given, like, power and responsibility and authority, and he's just the dude. Kingdom. - Let's get that. - Anyways, we're moving on to it. (upbeat music) - This is the Crossroads Daily. No experts, no perfect people. Just on his conversations about what happens when the Bible shows up in real life. (upbeat music) Welcome to Crossroads Daily. My name is Caleb. - I'm Alex. - I'm Nico. - I'm Kirsten. - Today we're looking at first Samuel chapter nine. So, the chapter before, chapter eight, got people asked for a king. God didn't really wanna give it to them,

but he was accommodating to their request. - How kind. - How kind. - Yeah. - So nice. Number nine, we find out who that king is. It's a really handsome tall guy named Saul. - We love that. - Don't we love handsome and tall? Just like Mika. - The most handsome and tall. - The most handsome and tall, what is that over there? Yeah, chapter nine, Samuel, or Saul, is out looking for his father's sheep, has no idea what's about to happen, and comes in contact with Samuel, the prophet, and he's gonna end up being anointed, the first king of Israel. And I was thinking about that this morning, and that saying, it's easier to steer a moving ship. You know what I'm saying? So, Saul is out doing something else, and God has him pivot from looking for these lost animals to you are the king of Israel. - So, it's easier to steer a moving ship than a stationary moving ship. - Well, yeah, a stationary ship you can steer at all. - Yeah, I don't get it. - It's just stuck there. - But if it's moving, that little tiny runner can move left or right, and then you can move it.

But if it's moving, moving the runner doesn't do anything. Or if it's still moving the runner doesn't do anything. So, where's the time in your life where you've been moving a certain direction, and you feel like God asked you to pivot a different way? What did that look like, feel like? What was the outcome of that? - Well, I know I've shared with some of you all before that my husband and I, this was a while ago, felt really specifically called by God through some other people and through some per time between the two of us to be foster parents. And so, we decided to pursue that. We were like moving in that direction. Like you were saying, we were taking classes and we were meeting with other people who were foster parents. And at the time, I had shared with a few other people that that was something that we were going to do. And we got a call one day, we were not certified at this point. We were probably months down the road from being in a situation where we were ready to accept kids, but we got a call from the county saying that there were three kids from a woman that I knew that I had told that we were pursuing foster parenting and asked if we could take her kids before we were certified. And so, that was a, we were moving in this direction and I don't even know what direction that was,

but I guess it was kind of in the same direction, but it felt like a total, we were unprepared, we were not ready, it was not the ages, it was three kids at once. And we just felt like we had a yes in our heart to accept these kids. And we did and it was crazy, but that felt like a total pivot from, well, I thought my mind was here and we can do all of these classes and prepare really well, right? And then all of a sudden, we just had three kids in our house and we had to learn how to be parents. - And they were like older kids, right? Like, no, when you're four? - Yes, they were eight, 13, and 17 at the time that we took them. And I was like, I don't know, 20-something, right? 26, and I was gonna parent a 17-year-old who certainly thought that they were also 26, so we're older, I'm so close. - So that was crazy. - That's a huge feeling. - It's like a big sister mom, right? - Yeah, sure. - Right. - That's a huge feeling. - Yeah, yeah. - I think that's a really good example too of what you shared earlier about the steering, the shift that's already in motion,

because you being in motion, that you actually position you to be. - Yeah, and we had already some resources and people who were in our corner that we were preparing, we were already preparing for something that we knew God was going to do. But I think that in my mind, I was like, well, I want everything to be ready. And getting the kids and having... prepared and we have all the things in place and we're really highly equipped which I assure you I was already overconfident for what we yes yes I really was but it it forced us to trust God it's a very that's a very good thing he doesn't care too much about our checklist of like I get to do all these things I'm not sure this happens he's like no yeah what if you just relied on me right yeah right yeah totally which I can't imagine saw felt a similar way of like yeah well I'm not supposed to be king I want to read this verse here this is uh this is chapter chapter 21 um yes all saw says that he's like am I not a Benjamin Knight from the smallest of Israel's tribe and isn't my clan the least important of all the tribes like he's like why why are you saying these important things to me I'm the least important person in the least important tribe in all of Israel right feeling super unqualified so I'm sure we can all think of times whether it felt like a huge pivot or not where we felt unqualified for something that we felt like I'd wanted to do whether it's being a foster parent my story is shifting from I was a high school science teacher into like a full-time ministry gig and student student pastoring um I know you guys have things as well what what's something that you felt unqualified for and what was it like following God into it what was the big faith move for you can I just say real quick I just keep picturing Tom Holland like the man is me and my husband agree he's fine he's fine he's married doesn't day yeah we gotta love some time but I'm just like like his spider like the spider man story is just that's what I keep picturing is like you know this little like New York City kit and I just keep giggling because whenever I read stories that just remind me of pop culture things I'm like oh my gosh this is spider man I mean kind of yeah it's a hot thing on this story guys that this is my brain leave me alone well no it is because Saul didn't expect any of this he suddenly given

like power and responsibility and authority I mean he's just a dude king let's go anyways we're moving on do you like the velcro shoes by the way but I had to bring them up at some point in this I do like it okay this is we're done with the side the side tangents I just had to get out of my brain um a time you mentioned you're calling in the ministry and we don't talk about it a ton but that was totally a time God was like in my life because I had done five years at University of Cincinnati for construction management I was a boss a woman I was a girl a girl a girl in stem and I loved it I was like obsessed I was like I'm gonna be the best construction management um construction manager anyone's ever seen like I'm gonna trailblaze for women all the things like I had the vision I had and I thought God wanted that for me like I would walk around job sites and crane operators would be like hey come here I'm like oh my gosh like if you are a woman with a pink hard hat I bedazzled mine while I'm job site you get called for all kind of reasons but so I'm just like oh I roll and I walk up and he's like hey do you follow Jesus and I'm like yeah I do and he's like I can tell just by the way you walk around job sites and so that was like moments like that were so affirming of like I'm where I'm supposed to be I'm doing like the mission that God called me to and then I love to say God speaks to me in a few ways and it's through scripture through circumstances and through people I trust and that's like exactly what happens when he pivots me in my life is okay I'm reading scripture that's supporting things in my life like okay I'm not thriving in construction why because I was a year ago whatever oh people in my circles are sending me job applications to come work in ministry at crossroads like the same day that I'm having like a crisis like am I doing what I'm supposed to and then the jobs just open up you know this was like months before covid so it was so crazy that I started working full-time ministry right before people weren't hiring at all and and so I just love that I love how God like will turn you but he makes the path right like the sheep from Saul probably were found like I don't know I like to think that they were just found right away and he's just wandering around like right look at see this like Yeah, it's great Miko just I know you I know a little part of your story Spent some time in prison. Yeah, are there is that is feeling qualified for what you're doing now Is that something that you had to wrestle with coming out of prison? Oh, absolutely in a number of ways like I that will be Yeah in a number of ways, but I think particularly for the role that I'm in now

I Literally when it was first presented to me I went down the list of my head of people who I thought would be more qualified for this like you God Maybe and I almost text grant back and say hey if you want, you know If you decide you know between now and in the next time we're supposed to connect that you know Maybe you should go in another direction like don't don't feel like you have to be obligated to me like for people who don't know What do you do now? I leave the prison ministry. Yeah at the arm at our church and It yeah dealing with feeling unqualified in that and I still do it still hits me. I remember coming on staff I'm before coming on staff Chuck told me He said that um he said when you come on staff. You're going to have a moment where that's actually you're gonna feel like I'm Imposter syndrome. That's right. That's what it was. He's like and I want you to know that that's absolutely normal And I'm like oh, yeah, sure. Okay. Cool. Yeah, that'll be you know But then I didn't I wasn't prepared for exactly what that would feel like and all of this joy that I had initially coming on staff And I was just excited around February towards the end of January February that started to shift and I feel so Unqualified in every room I would walk in I would almost like feel like I need to preface like hey I'm the I'm the least qualified in this room. So have grace like I was just always like that And and I was so unsure of my footing and I would go home and I'm like why did you even say that earlier like what is what is this? What are you feeling and and I wasn't shot by the like I was sharing with people like I'm struggling right now Yeah, and I was on a trip in Guatemala and I was talking to one of the guys there And he was just like hey, I'm so excited about what you're doing with prison ministry because I was sharing with some some of the vision I had and wasn't super confident in the vision, but I'm like this is what I've got I mean, I'm a monthly right, you know, and he was like man. I just think I was going to do some really good things man I'm so excited. I can't wait to hear more about it and I love the part in which you and I'm like man That's I'm like thank you for saying that. I'm like is right now and I'm struggling and He was you know like and I kind of shared with him why he was like man. I'm sorry that you feel like that and then he said You work with some really smart people and I said I know He said and they believe in you that's right Wow and that right there it was like God was saying okay to me code if I can't wrestle you from this Perspective of how everyone is elevated in your mind. I'll just use it the way that you feel about everyone around you

They believe in you and that was just like air in my tire and I'm like, oh Right, you know what? I mean? And it was just the moment where I and you know felt like okay I can get back up on a horse and since then like I still have those moments But there's always just these deposits and the people that I work around that just lift me up and just pour into me Throughout the journey that just keeps me, you know reminded that you know what God? Yes, you called me to this and you didn't call me to Carry all of this on my own like you've surrounded me with some incredible people. That's really to help me carry this vision. Yeah That's right. Yeah, that's awesome. Thanks for sharing. Yeah. Yeah, so I don't know where you find yourself Today, there's there's a couple of a couple of places you can be maybe You feel like I was calling you to pivot then you need to say yes to the pivot you were going one direction And maybe it was a good direction. You're gonna be the girl in construction. That's fantastic But maybe I'd ask you to go a different way. That's just better not bad though. The old one's not bad It's just the new ways better make the pivot maybe you need to lean into where you feel most Qualified and ask God to speak the truth about you because your past doesn't disqualify you God has you exactly where he wants you to be Maybe you need to ask some people who surround you for some feedback. That was my story I felt like an imposter I had to learn to ask the people around me. Is this true or not? And they said heck no, that's not true. Yeah, ask the people the questions get the feedback that you need You're in the right place got to doing something in your life. We'll see you next time You You (upbeat music)