Reflections on working in ministry

Let me first state that I am not a pastor. It is possible to do God's work in the ministy without being made a preacher. My wife and I have worked in Royal Rangers, Angel Food, the Childrens Ministry, and Food Bank.
Having said that, I wanted to post what's going on in my head about it recently. With work, kids, chores, and school, my wife and I discussed stepping out of the children's ministry for a while, that maybe we had set up a good structure for someone to follow, and maybe we had done our job. When we came to the church a year ago, there was nobody to teach it as their normal teacher was about to have a baby and had complications that would put her at home for a while.
We were told that we arrived just in time and were an answer to prayer. In our theology, if someone comes to you with news and it's confirmed from another independent source, we interpret that as confirmation. I can tell you that when God has a plan for you, and you listen to him, you will see this happen! That is a topic for a whole other blog, though.
Anyway, we recently prayed and asked the Lord for confirmation that we were being released from childrens church. We were led to teach a unit on Jonah, the prophet who ran from God so he wouldn't have to go to Nineva. If you are unfamiliar with the themes of Jonah, I'll post this excerpt from his prayer. At this point, he has run from God to the point of taking a ship to Tarshish, considered the 'other side of the world'. God sends a storm, Jonah is thrown off the boat by the men who recognize he is the reason for God's anger, and he is now in the belly of the giant fish. Here we go:
(By the way, this is the NIV version)

Jonah 2
Jonah's Prayer

1 From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God.

2 He said: "In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From the

depths of the grave [a] I called for help, and you listened to my cry.

3 You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents

swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me.

4 I said, 'I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.'

5 The engulfing waters threatened me,

the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.
6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, O LORD my God.

7 "When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.

8 "Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.

9 But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the LORD."

10 And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

OK, basically, Jonah asked for forgiveness and God heard his prayer. He used the most unlikely of things, a giant fish, to bring Jonah where he was supposed to be. I don't know about you, but I am thankful for a God of second chances. And sometimes, third, fourth and fifth chances!

I see now that sometimes we are called to teach a topic because not only is it important for the audience, but to the teachers too. Actually, we are part of the audience, ultimately God is the teacher. I pray that I never forget that humbling lesson. Gotta go, that lesson is actually taking place in a couple of hours and I am doing the voice of the surfer dude! It's a long story...