I've been watching episodes of The West Wing for a while now. A few weeks before Christmas I got to the Christmas episode of Season 4. It's titled "Guns not Butter". President Bartlet is feeling the need to get things done before the end of the year so he has Leo working on peace in the Middle East and Josh working on a doomed foreign aid bill. There's other plots and it's a good episode but what's stuck with me is a little exchange near the end of the episode. Josh has to admit defeat and he and the president have a short conversation. In that conversation President Bartlet says, "You know what the difference is between you and me? I want to be the guy. You want to be the guy the guy counts on." And in thinking about myself, my role as an ATP (adult type person,=youth volunteer) and even my role at work, I think that pretty much sums up what I want to be as well. I don't want to be the one out front, leading the charge. I'm not very good at motivating people or convincing people to follow me. I'm generally not the one with the big ideas or the grand schemes or the desire to shape the role and direction of much of anything. What I do better than those things and where I am the most happy, is being the one behind the scenes. I want to be the one who works with The Guy, who takes the big plans and schemes and new directions and figures out how to make those a reality. I don't care much for the praise and recognition from the masses. I just want to be the one The Guy in charge counts of when things need to get done. And I don't want to let The Guy down.
2011 is looking like it's going to be a year of transition in a number of ways. There's some stuff going on at work that will possibly result in me taking on some different roles or at least altering how I work. I think this will be a good thing. But it's going to take some getting used to. And we'll have at least one, if not two new youth guy transitions at work. With Matt leaving on relatively short notice, we've got a new intern who will be in charge for at least the remainder of the school year. We're hoping that God will provide a new, long-term youth guy before the start of the summer. And, if that's the case, we'll get to do the whole transition thing twice this year. I know that God will work this for the good for all of His people, including me and all of the kids. I've been through this before and can honestly say that I've seen God so greatly bless my kids and me with each of the transitions that I have no reason to doubt that He will do it again. But, well, change is scary and even the easy transitions are sometimes difficult. And Sylvia, my women's ministry prayer partner at church, and I will, I'm sure, have much to talk and pray about (especially with two of her kids newly engaged to be married...both good unions to look forward to, just, well, change and change is also often stressful).
And somewhere in 2011, I'll hopefully get to spend a week in Colorado with my high school kids, a week in Mexico doing summer camp with some street kids and maybe a week in Florida with my junior high kids. I'll certainly make it to Atlanta at least a couple of times and hope to road trip to Jackson, Mississippi some as well. I'd like to reorganize the play room and clean out my bookcases, work through my "to be read" pile, spend lots of time at the gym and more time in prayer and study of God's word. I hope to neglect my cats less and the television more, to put more emphasis on relationships with my family (both the one I'm related to as well as the one I'm not) and enjoy more time playing games with friends. I'll probably continue my quest for the perfect backpack and have to restrain myself from buying more water bottles and cold weather gear. But, mostly, I just want to live each day in such a way that I glorify God and enjoy Him in all things and maybe inspire others to do the same.
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