So yesterday I went to go see my pastor to talk about what the heck I am going to do with my life. My two biggest questions going in were 1) I need to get out of music therapy, but what do I do? I had some ideas on this, and I had the ideas of my parents, but I wanted the opinion of someone I trusted who wasn't related to me. I was a little concerned that my desire to get out of my field was more that I wanted to come home, so I wanted to hear his thoughts. 2) Do I move home soon (like before the summer's over) and figure out what I want to do with my life at home, or do I stick it out where I'm at until I figure life out?
I talked with my wonderful pastor for an hour and a half, but before I get into our conversation, you need to know a little about my pastor and my church. My church is a small, non denominational church in the Chicago suburbs. There are 3 paid positions in my church, and my pastor is NOT one of them. No one else gets paid, pretty much everything is done by volunteers. My church meets on Wednesday nights but is split into smaller "house churches" on Sunday nights. These house churches have their own requirements that allow us to get by without paying anyone. It's really kind of nice, because people are there because they want to be, not because they are getting paid to be there. We also run 2 drug rehab programs--one for guys and one for girls. These drug rehab programs have grown, and now we have Restoration Ministries. Restoration Ministries is located in Harvey, IL, and area riddled with poverty and gangs. Restoration Ministries runs a food pantry, and after school program (where they get fed as well has help with homework), a summer camp, a thrift store, an art gallery, and a boxing club. All in Harvey. They amazing thing is, Restoration Ministries is a neutral zone for the gangs. Mostly because of the food pantry that feeds their families, but the entire Restoration Ministries campus is a neutral zone, which is quite cool. This is where I went to meet with my pastor, who has been CEO there for two years after retiring from dentistry.
My pastor is almost 80 with no signs of slowing down. He started my church as a Bible study in his living room 42 years ago. He has known my parents since they were in high school, and he has watched us all grow up. My generation of kids in the church (although there aren't many of us left... a lot leave), we're kind of like his grandkids. He helped my dad through a similar career change when he was my age (he was a music educator who wanted out. Dad ended up going to law school when he was 26), so I really wanted to talk to him.
So on to our talk. Essentially what it boiled down to was, my pastor said he didn't want to sound like a broken record, telling me what he told my dad, but he really thinks I should go to law school. He didn't know I was already considering this, either. When I told him I was going to take the LSATs in October, he asked if I could take them earlier, which he highly suggested I do. We talked a lot about the similarities between me, my dad, and his daughter (who also went to law school after majoring in English). We talked about what I could do with my law degree, and how I could do stuff in law that wouldn't be the end of the world for my introvert personality like research, writing opinion papers, and being an analyst. I've also written to my pastor quite a few times about how much I want to come home to my church, Spirit of God Fellowship (or SOGF). I have had a really hard time finding a church out by me, and I don't really even like the one I am going to. So when I asked him whether he thought I should come home first or stay out there, he told me to come home. He even offered to help me find a job using his connections in the community so that I could come home and already have a job lined up. He truly is the best. But he kept saying that it's time for me to come home, which is exactly how I feel, but I didn't know if I was being selfish because I miss my family and my church, or if it's really time for me to move home. I moved out 2 years ago because I really believed that was what God wanted for me, and I still believe that my 2 years there was where I was meant to be, but I REALLY want to come home now. South Holland and my church mean a lot to me, and I really want to come home.
I don't know where this discussion with my pastor will lead, and I am still not sure exactly how everything will shake out. I plan on taking the LSATs in June for sure, and I hope to move home over the summer, but we'll see how everything shakes out. I was just very encouraged to talk to my pastor and hear his ideas and his excitement over the idea of me coming home and finding a career that truly fulfills me, as opposed to living in the middle of nowhere for a career I'm not fulfilled in. My pastor means the world to me, and to hear him reiterate thoughts I had been having without him knowing any of that felt really good. So I don't have a timeline, and I'm not sure where all of this will lead, but I feel very encouraged and much less like my future is a giant question mark :D If you made it through this whole post, kudos to you!
