When last we left the story, my chair at the university looked sad and lonely, like a Michigan State football coach who just realized the astounding futility of his job. It’s been a week, and my chair almost certainly continues to be sad and lonely. But this is not about an inanimate piece of university property (my chair, not the men’s basketball team); this is about the inanimate piece of blog author whose words you are reading.

The end of my temp position left me with a world of options, if “a world” can be translated to mean “I have no idea what’s going on.” As my last day approached, I assumed I would fill the void simply by seeking another MoFri job teeming with equally menial minutiae, gathering a regular paycheck while living a cell phone life (coming alive in the evenings and on the weekends). It was the safe, obvious option.

If you’ve been reading this site for any length of time, I’m sure you’ve noticed an unusual number of photographs of high school sporting events; this is a pursuit of mine that has grown significantly over the last year or two, as I have gained further experience and equipment. The response to my efforts has been pleasantly positive, and I have enjoyed the time I’ve spent around the teams; as one who enjoys both photography and sports, it has been a natural fit.

Despite that, I never saw it as a potentially serious career. I thought I should just keep it on the side, doing what I could outside my work schedule. Trying to make a living mostly off high school sports photography? That’s not safe, right? Not for a while, at least. So even though I enjoyed my photography, I assumed it would take a back seat to that desk job that had to be out there somewhere.

As it turned out, God wasn’t focused on the safe, obvious option. I suppose that shouldn’t be surprising; He often has a much larger view than we (I) ever do. While I kept looking at the safe option, God kept nudging me with the option I’d discarded as unrealistic. And over the course of one weekend, when the thought of seriously pursuing photography wouldn’t leave me alone, I went from scarcely considering it as a possibility to considering it my primary choice. Or more accurately, God took me from one to the other. If left to my own devices, I’d probably try to be as safe as that kid wearing a life vest and floaties in swim class. And, like that kid, I’d be totally safe … but I’d never learn much of anything.

So, when my job ended on 06 March, I left my position as Minister of Menial Tasks and Other Minutiae, and I accepted the position of Minister of Myriad Megapixels.

I could elongate this post with piercing narratives and pithy anecdotes from the last week (like the humor of telling people, “I don’t have a job! Oh, and I bought a computer”), but the fruit of today’s efforts sums up everything quite nicely.

Lest you think I have gone off the deep end, let me assure you: I’ve actually gone off only the somewhat deep end. If my photography ventures don’t yet generate enough to keep me out of the poorhouse, I will eventually supplement that business with one of those aforementioned desk jobs.

But you never know what tomorrow holds.

“Many are the plans in a man’s heart,
but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”
Proverbs 19:21