: . .
As providence would
have it, through a series
of events I was given the
inspiration to read Arcana
Coelestia. But after about 30
pages of volume one I realized
that I was lost, and wasn’t
getting anything out of it. I
was in Toronto not long after
this, and asked my fatherin-law (Gordon Jorgenson)
if he’d read all of the Arcana,
and that it was frustrating
me that I wasn’t getting it. He
shook his head saying that he
understood my frustration,
and about six weeks later they
were down visiting us and he
gave me a copy of the Dole
Todd and Jenn Beiswenger with son, Zach
Notes.
It was exactly what my small brain needed. I started reading one chapter
per day out of the Word, and the corresponding chapter in the Dole Notes.
Suddenly, I was getting it, and was able to see how the Word was actually a
story about me!
For the first time I was able to see New Church teachings about personal
growth and development in simple terms that I could understand. I was also
noticing that I was changing. This daily contact with the Word was making
a profound impact on my attitudes, desires and behaviors – and that’s what
really got me thinking about the ministry.
I was thinking that I needed to share these simple teachings that could
change lives. I knew plenty of others who needed this same help, and I felt that
I was being called to share this with others.
But I had a job, a mortgage and a pregnant wife, whose dream was to
be a stay-at-home Mom, and I had promised to make that dream a reality.
Therefore, while I was feeling a call to the ministry, I had provided the Lord
with a good list of reasons – or as a salesperson would call them, a good list of
objections as to why I could not be a minister.
Turns out the Lord is a pretty good salesperson, as He took a look at my
list and over the course of a couple of years started giving me solutions to
overcome those objections. The final one came in 2008.
The “call” kept on coming,