Two beginnings stand out in my mind as I think through the Bible.  The first is of creation itself, and the other in the first words of St. John’s gospel… “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth…”  and “In the beginning was the Word…”  The latter is an anomaly… the writer tells us what things were like from the start—the Word was already there.  But creation is a different story: the universe we know didn’t exist, then upon command it began.

This is normally how we think of things: something didn’t exist, then there’s action, and now it exists.  A congregation is without a minister, it conducts a search, then there’s a minister.  The youth program is small, has few activities, while the kids are hanging outside the corner deli without an adult mentoring them about the ways of life until a grown-up steps up and starts a program.  A financially strapped government has discontinued support services for the mentally ill, and a segment of the community is at risk until a group of mental health professionals form a nonprofit to bring pharmaceutical companies, doctors, psychiatrists, and social workers together to form a solution.

Doesn’t exist / action / exists.

But there’s one other component to add to this: the idea.  The thought.  Possibly the vision.  Whatever goes on in the mind that precedes action.

Ideas are very important to action, and I’m sure I’ll cover them at some point in my musings.  For now, I want to focus on one thing: for some time I’ve had the idea that I should formalize my financial work with ministries, write a book, create training materials, and a host of other activities that supports ministers, nonprofit directors, and lay leaders on how to effectively steward the financial assets under their care.  After all, “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost?”  So here we are, the idea was there, and now Tower Ministry Finance has come into being.

Unlike God, I can’t see the future and I don’t know what to expect from this journey.  I’m relying on the clues that I have in front of me, the encouragement of others, and a prayer that I’m doing correctly interpreting the signals to move ahead with this financial ministry.

So let’s see where the journey takes us!