Mandarin, Music, Metanoia

Hello All!

It having been too long since my previous post, and so much having occurred in my absence, I thought it appropriate to write an update on the recent happenings in my life.  As usual, it’s a story of God’s faithfulness in spite of my persistent doubting.

I successfully completed my first full year of teaching at Franklin Classical School (FCS) without succumbing to the pressure of three jobs (teaching/tutoring, coaching, online market research).  I had been planning all year (for two years, in fact) on attending graduate school to get my M.A. in Chinese.  I had applied and was accepted to both Indiana University and Ohio State University, but due to OSU offering me a scholarship (actually a contingent scholarship–I wouldn’t find out if I got the money until a month after term had started), I planned on attending OSU.  OSU’s Chinese program commenced with a 7-week summer term in China (not covered by the scholarship), which meant I would be leaving June 21.  I had praying about this decision all year, and it looked like the Lord was leading me in this direction.  However, God placed a number of people into my life who, seemingly at random, began to pray for me and speak to me what God had laid on their hearts: that perhaps I wasn’t called to graduate school or a career as a linguist.  More perfunctorily than eagerly I checked around the Nashville area for schools offering Chinese–considering a teaching career as an alternative to a translator career–more to find out what they look for in potential teachers than to get an actual job.  I sent a few emails to random schools, and surprisingly received a phone call one day from a local private Christian school, Christ Presbyterian Academy (CPA): “How did you find out about the job?”  “I didn’t know there was a job,” I responded.  “I was just wanting to learn more about your program.”

It turns out CPA was starting a new high school Chinese program for the fall of 2014 and was looking for a non-Chinese (English-speaking) Chinese teacher.  Within a week I had an interview, and a couple weeks later I was offered the job.  Moreover, they said they were flexible in their scheduling, which means I could teach Chinese at CPA and continue teaching Latin and literature (and now humanities, too) at FCS!  The gym I coach at was also more than happy to keep me on staff, so I’ll be working there too.  I suppose I wasn’t meant to work less than 3 jobs at a time. 🙂

While this vortex of a life-change that we call God’s providence was in its tempestuous throes, I also had the chance to make a connection with a local professional filmmaker.  He and his sister had attend one of my band’s (MacClelland) shows at a pub in downtown Franklin on St. Patrick’s Day.  After hearing our music, he requested to make a music video for us (ironic, because it’s usually the other way around)–and for dirt cheap!  Over the course of three days on Easter weekend, we shot our music video, to be released sometime this calendar year.  The production process was really quite fun: Stephen had rented an old (terribly out-of-tune) piano, which we hauled out to the shooting site, and hired a team that uses a drone for aerial shots.  [I took a video of the drone in action, but it was too large to load, so you can check out our band’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/DannyMcClellandAndTheSonsOfErin) to see footage of the drone (posted April 21).]  I’ve seen the first draft of the video, and it’s really quite incredible.  I’ll be sure to share it when we officially release it.  The video is of a song called “Battle Psalm,” from our upcoming full-length album, “Brighter” (also to be released sometime this year).  We’ve since become good friends with the producer (Stephen Byrum), who–so it happens–comes from a Christian homeschool family who recently moved here from Idaho.  Aside from my lingering doubts about the existence of Idaho (see more here: http://www.fantasymaps.com/stuff/idaho.html), Stephen was another testament to the bountiful goodness of God’s providence in my life this year.  And continued involvement with the band was certainly an advantage of staying in Franklin.

As if the aforementioned wasn’t already enough, I also (at the same time all of the above was happening) had the fortune to begin spending time with a lovely lady who now for reasons unknown lets me call her my girlfriend.  Her name is Rennah Huisinga, and her joyfulness and love for the Lord are another proof of the unmerited favor of God in my life.  She is actually the sister of our band’s lead singer, Daniel, and we’ve known each other for years but only recently began getting to know one another (another great irony).  Rennah has already passed the first Churchill family test by taking the Myers-Briggs assessment, on which she came out ESFJ.  I couldn’t help posting a picture of the two of us, mostly because I look so good next to her :p

So: in the span of about a month and a half, my bachelor mentality of pursuing a master’s degree and a career in Washington was radically transformed into a mentality of pursuing the calling of a teacher in Franklin and a relationship with Rennah.  It feels odd to forgo the opportunity of pursuing higher education, but who knows what God has in store for the future?  God has revealed much to me in the past few months: about the absurdity of man’s doubt in the face of God’s eternal provision (Isaiah 58:11; Psalm 84:11; Psalm 145:16-19), about the irony of providence and grace unsought, about the difference between career and calling, about the impracticality of pragmatism in God’s economy, and about how to take each step in faith, one at a time.  It’s easy to construe Psalm 119:105 (“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path”) as a promise of foresight–selfishly applied to our own desires for our own lives independent of God–when in fact a “lamp” on a dark night in Jerusalem in 1000 BC would have been bright enough to light literally one step at a time.  God never sets us on a path we can walk by ourselves.  He’s continually drawing us to himself, calling us, leading us, one step at a time.

So many good things have happened in the past few months, that I’ve surely omitted a detail here and there.  All in all, I’m happy to be staying in my favorite city and enjoying the wonderful blessings God has in store for me here.

Blessings,

James