What do you do when you are frustrated with where you find yourself spiritually and you know there is more for you to do on this earth, but you just don't know where to turn or what to pursue?  What do you do when you feel this sense of discontment with the mundane nature of life and the natural ups and downs that seem to never stop?  YOU JUST DO THE NEXT THING!

Sometimes we get paralyzed by waiting on the perfect thing to come along and thus we look with snobbish disdain at the simple thing in front of us.  Perfection doesn't come along very often, but imperfect, simple opportunities come along all the time.  Therefore, we need to let go of our idealism and simply do the next thing.  And it is often the case that you find your real fit in ministry by doing what is in front of you and letting that opportunity open new doors of ministry, which lead you into opportunities that are more and more focused.  So let me encourage you with this quote by Mark Batterson, "Most of us do not see God moving simply because we are not moving."

Do you need some help thinking about the next thing in your life.  Let me 'grease the wheels' a little by offering some suggestions, but go with your own inclinations over my suggestions.  Be sure, however, that you are moving towards people and not just projects.  God's business is the business of people, not the business of projects, and we often move towards projects over people because people are less predictable and, quite frankly, messier.  But we have to move towards people, as they are the only things that are eternal on this earth.  Here are some suggestions:

• Invite your neighbors over for dinner with no agenda other than to get to know them
• Go and visit a nursing home and spend time with a resident who gets few visitors
• Send hand written letters to all of your relatives and let them know you are praying for them
• Lead or host a small group for your local church
• Offer to visit or assist any shut-ins in your local church
• Deliver some meals for your local meals on wheels and take a little something extra for the recipients
• Consider adopting some children or consider foster parenting or being a guardian ad litem
• Take on an exchange student for 9 months
• Coach a local sports team to have impact on the players and parents
• Make a goodie for everyone on your street and hand them out as a gesture of good will

The most important thing is that we do something, even if it is small, and quit waiting on the perfect opportunity to come our way. I remember working as an engineer in Jacksonville, FL, and trying to find my way in ministry. I knocked on doors like the Mormans and talked to people on cold calls, I bought 50 hamburgers and handed them out to the homeless in the downtown area, I helped a crazy, Jesus-loving friend drag a cross up and down the beach to engage folks in conversation, I visited a nursing home and just talked with lonely residents, I took a boy from our apartment complex to the state fair, I started an accountability group with a few other guys.  As I reflect back on these activities now, I realize that I did some of them well and did others poorly.  I was successful in some areas and failed miserably in others.  But it was in the process of success and failure that I refined my vision and kept moving towards new and different ministry opportunities.  In other words, I found God in my actions, not in my passive contemplations.

So wherever you are today, and whatever you are thinking, I challenge you TO DO THE NEXT THING!  Whether it is a success or a failure, you will be glad you did it, as either result will move your forward in ministry and closer to God.