Remember the “Suck It” gesture that elementary and middle school kids would do in the 90’s? Yeah it was the kids who were watching wrestling all the time. At first I thought it was very rude, dirty, and an un-Christ-like thing to do, but as I began my introduction to my 30’s I have come to the astounding realization that it expresses my sentiments to a tee! And if you don’t know what I’m talking about look up “D-Generation X” and you’ll see. 

Here’s an example of when I felt like this: At my previous place of living, the weirdos in the apartment office would keep on losing my checks for the rent. Now, for those who pay a hefty sum of rent and work hard for the money, THIS IS NOT A JOKING MATTER! I may possibly not remember what I have for breakfast or the socks I wear today, but say you lost my money and I will remember the alignment of the stars just so that you will find it. And even before I left those apartments what seemed appropriate was for me to do the “Suck it” gesture. They may or may not have seen me do it in their direction, but either way it made me feel so much better and especially as I was leaving those apartments. 

I want to take a pause and acknowledge you for a moment because I understand and have these moments myself. You are a hard-worker and you make it work, you may not make the best decisions, but you make it work for you, your spouse, your family, and loved ones to live. At this time you may feel drained from making it work, that you’re scraping the bottom of the barrel only to split the remains of your best between home and work. Usually, it’s at these moments when the most is being asked of you, dumb people lose the payments you already made, and all you want to do is refuel to face the next day. There’s more for you.

We shouldn’t have to count the days until our next vacation, so we can get away from our jobs. That is an indicator that we are most likely in a job that had an expiration date, but we are still there. Most food has an expiration date, except Twinkies. When we purchase food we already have in mind the preparations we have to make in order to use that food properly and to make room for the next rotation of food. When we eat expired food or even food that doesn’t “agree” with us we get sick. Why is it that we allow ourselves to constantly be sick of our jobs and we haven’t made preparations to move on to the next thing God has called us to?

As humans we are constantly evolving, growing, and learning whether it is for the best or worst. We should constantly be moving toward something. When I was back at the apartments with my son and wife I remember my son, who was 9 or 10 at the time, he mentioned something to the effect of us still being in that apartment when he would start high school. He only said that because the apartment complex that we were in was literally next door to the high school that he will be attending if we don’t move out the school district. He was also saying that because it would be convenient for him to just walk to school everyday, which would be a very easy option for us as a family because right behind the school is my job.

How many times do we trade what is better in quality for easy, convenience, or our comfort zone? It’s easy, convenient, and comforting to stay where we are at and put up with the annoyances that come along with it. The downside to that is we miss out on the beauty, adventure, and love that God has set up on the path to better for us. 

So what are we suppose to do at this fork in the road? We may want better than where we are right now and more than what our jobs have to offer, but there’s nowhere to go. And even if we do see a place to go or try to resurrect that dream we had before our job handed us scissors to cut ties to what once was there is no way it’ll sustain our households. I’m asking us to take a step of faith and prepare. Prepare what? Prepare for your exodus. Preparations will look different for everyone. For some preparation is taking those music lessons, others it’s going back to school, a few of us may need to get rid of debt to make our next move, maybe someone needs to propose and commitment to their significant other. It’s a variety of things we can do to prepare, but once we do we will begin to see things with more clarity. 

On January 1st of 2020 my wife and I had no clue how or when we were going to be moving out those apartments, but we said to each other and determined in our hearts that we weren’t going to be renewing our lease in July. I don’t know how that was so effective, but the next week I found a new place and told my wife. She turned around the week after that and found the place where we are living now. Everything happened and came together so quickly, that we were out of those apartments by March 1st. Our preparation for our exodus didn’t look like much, but it’s something that took place in our hearts. Maybe you need to make that type of heart preparation, so that one day you can make your exodus . SOS.