This month, I will celebrate two full years in a position I didn’t want initially. 

I worked in a middle school for most of my career. And for some odd reason, I loved every moment of it even though middle schoolers are like walking science experiments—constantly morphing, explosively emotional, and hungry…all the time…for both food and acknowledgment. 

So when I was asked to move to the high school, my initial response was, “No, thank you.” 

High schoolers are too tall, too mature, and honestly, they smell good. How was I supposed to adjust to them when I already felt so connected to my middle schoolers?

Have you ever had an experience like this in your career—when your calling takes you in an unexpected direction in which you don’t feel qualified or equipped to go? When things aren’t going your way, how do you see past the obstacles to the opportunity?

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” Isaiah 6:8, NIV

As I reflect on my past two years as a high school principal, it reminds me of when I helped my oldest son learn how to walk. In the beginning, it was painful (for both of us), and I started to wonder if I would be carrying him around forever! I would watch him try to stand, wobbly and unbalanced, and then fall over and over again. And all I could say was, “Okay, try again.”

There is a saying: God does not call the equipped. He equips the called. 

I can honestly say that during my first year in that new position, the presence of God was stronger in my life than it had ever been before. Baby step by awkward baby step, I realized that I did have the skills needed for this new role. In time, I started to really enjoy it. 

Looking back, while the past two years have been wobbly and unbalanced, and have left me with some bruises from running into things, all of these experiences have helped me lean into trusting God’s voice and calling on my life.

At the end of this past school year, I was blessed to read the names of the seniors who I also had as 7th and 8th graders when I was a middle school principal. Watching each of them walk across the stage with smiles—and some even with hugs—was a beautiful reminder that God had commissioned me to shepherd these students through their middle school years (and so many tears from all of us) right up to this very moment at graduation.