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August 27, 2007 By Don Ryan ”O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him” (Psalms 34:8). This weekend, I had several hours to myself. This almost never happens, even when I go to work. The main reason is that my commute consists of me walking down the stairs from my bedroom into my office. Not only do I save a lot of money on gas, but my wardrobe is cheap and (as my wife might say) is sometimes lacking. Why can’t you wear the same sweats to work five days in a row? Is this really a problem?
So I had several hours to myself on Saturday and decided to rearrange my office. My office has essentially been set up the same way since I started working at home in 2003. I wanted to shake things up a little. I began moving my desk, which is a fairly large L-shaped desk. To give you a visual, my office is about 13×13 and is poorly designed (not by me but rather the people who built the room). It has two doors, which are in line with each other and both open in ways that severely limit what you can place in that particular line. Also, there’s a fireplace, which is very nice, but it limits the use of that wall as well. Finally, there is a wall of windows that look out into our back yard, but there are no electrical outlets on that wall (house built in 1894 with office built in the 1920’s).
I started by seeing if I could move my desk to the wall in between the two doors. What I managed to do in this process was 1) have the leg of my desk fall into a heat register beating up the “L” portion pretty good and 2) at some point, I became trapped behind my desk and vertical file. I really don’t know how it happened, but I was stuck there. I crawled up from under my desk and came to the decision that it wasn’t working on that wall. This, of course, was after I had already moved my bookshelf off the wall. To make a long story just a little shorter, after trying four different combinations, my desk wound up right back where it started, perhaps a little worse for wear because of the experience. Now, I know the desk is there because it’s the only place it fits.
So you’re asking yourself, “Dude, 500 words and what is the point?” Here’s the point. A short time ago, I really didn’t even want to continue in ministry anymore. I was tired, burned out, and generally frustrated. So we did some moving, tried different things, re-directed our passions elsewhere, and yet, at the end of the day, we wound up right back where we started because it was the only place that fit. I’m not speaking of a physical location (although I love the Mount Vernon church), but I am talking about an ordering of priorities.
There is an old song my mom used to sing called, “Only Jesus Can Satisfy Your Soul.” Try as we might to replace, reorder, or redo our lives, once you’ve tasted of the goodness of God, there is no way to drive that feeling or knowledge from your life. We always seem to wind up right back where we started, perhaps a little worse for wear, but, in the end, right where we fit. Call it trying to find yourself, spread your wings, or whatever, sometimes, you’re just rearranging furniture. And usually, it was where it was supposed to be all the time. ninetyandnine.com © 2007, Don Ryan
--------- Don Ryan is an ordained minister and the Sunday School Director for the Ohio District, UPCI. He’s also an RN and on the pastoral staff of the Apostolic Christian Church in Mount Vernon, Ohio. He is learning in all things to be content.
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