Have you noticed that scared and sacred are practically the same word. Switch a few letters and one turns into the other.

Our journey with God is sacred – and often scary. Abraham was called to leave without knowing the destination. “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1) That must have been scary.

I believe God is calling me to leave my place of employment and I don’t have another job in hand. I do not know where my next job will be and I don’t know what I will do. I don’t know that I will continue in professional ministry. I have been in my profession 23 years, in three churches. Until now, I have not had a week when I was not employed. So, fear has popped up quite a bit lately.

But, I also feel excited about the future. I feel like I am not leaving as much as I am welcoming the future God has in store for me. I’m not ending as much as I am beginning. Though I am quitting my job, I am not quitting my faith or my journey with God. In fact, I am recapturing my values and dreams. It’s not scary; it’s a sacred journey.

Funny, I received an unexpected package in the mail this week. It was a book called I Quit! The author, Geri Scazzero, who is a pastor and married to a pastor, speaks of the blessedness of quitting.

The quitting I’m talking is not about weakness or giving up in despair. It is about strength and choosing to live in the truth. This requires the death of illusions…Biblical quitting goes hand-in-hand with choosing.

She goes on to describe my emotions during the past month.

Quitting can feel like we are severing a lifeline, that someone possibly even ourselves, is going to die. For this reason quitting is unthinkable to many, especially in the church. It appears “bizarre” and “cruel.”

But there comes a point when we cross a threshold and we can’t take it anymore. …we know we will die spiritually, emotionally, or otherwise unless we quit and choose to do something differently. We finally step over our fears into the great unknown territory that lies before us.

We have a choice. We can embrace the sacred – God’s desire to form a new work in us – or we can hang on scared.

Ask me again in a few months. But, right now, I’m ready for adventure!