the Monday Morning Debrief: The grass isn’t always greener

During the summer of 2012, Penn State’s Football program was hit with ton of sanctions because of a former assistant Coach.  Part of those sanctions included allowing football players to transfer without penalty to other schools.  A lot of players stayed and had a huge impact in a historical year for Penn State Football.  However, some left.  One of those was star running back Silas Redd.

Silas Redd went on to USC where they were the preseason #1 ranked team in the nation.  There were high expectations at USC and a lot of exposure so Silas went there as he was looking to get a lot of recognition for a potentially championship team.  If he performed well for the team, that would increase his draft stock for the NFL.

Unfortunately for Silas and USC, things didn’t work out so well.  USC finished the season 7-6 (Penn State finished 8-4) and was the 1st team since the 1964 Ole Miss team to finish unranked after being a preseason #1 team.  You can read up on what has happened to Silas and more of the USC debacle here.

So what’s the point?

The grass isn’t always greener on the other side.  Not one of the Penn State transfers went on to be a star on his new football team.  They contributed for sure but I’m sure it didn’t turn out exactly how they envisioned it would.

On the other hand, Penn State became the “feel good” story of last year.  The remaining players banded together and put together a very impressive season especially with everything stacked up against them.

O’Brien transformed the offense  and QB Matt McGloin which ended up gaining O’Brien a ton of Coach of the Year nominations and awards and caused McGloin to be drafted by the Oakland Raiders.  Going into last season, McGloin would never had been drafted as he was a huge disappointment as a quarterback.  But now he is on a NFL roster, as well as other players from the Penn State team.

In regards to us in ministry.  There are definitely tough times.  It is not always easy.  But sometimes, when times are tough or frustrating, we tend to think, “this would never happen at another church or ministry”.  We think that somewhere else will be better.  And, that could be true.  Another place could be better.  But another place also has issues of their own.

I’ve worked at 4 churches and 1 para-church organization in my 16 years of full-time ministry and I have felt that the grass is greener on the other side many times a variety of times.  However, when I did move on because of my frustration, I quickly discovered that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.  No church or ministry is perfect.

So my encouragement is, when you begin to think about packing up and leaving because somewhere else is better, take some time to sit and pray.  Take some time to go before the Lord and seek His wisdom for you and the decisions you may or may not be making.  God brought you to this current ministry for a reason and just because we may be frustrated does not mean that it is time to go.  There may be a valuable lesson that you will learn from what you are going through.

So don’t pack the bags and leave.  Seek the Lord and trust Him to guide you through it.  Maybe it is time for you to leave.  But, maybe not.

Thoughts? Experiences?  Post a comment so that we can all learn and benefit.