More Than a Job

I have been here at SSI as staff for over four years, and I am still thankful to work here.  I have been saying this from the beginning, but it is still true.  Around the three-year mark, I was waiting for the shoe to drop.  SSI tends to be a launching pad for people, for students at camp but also for staff.  People will come on staff and stick around for a few years and then move on.  Three years seems to be the average life-span of most staff, and as I hit that point, I was waiting to start resenting my job, to see more and more of what I didn’t like, to get antsy and ready to move on, but that never happened.  After four years I’m still loving the challenges that my job presents, the way that it stretches me, and the countless times that it blesses me every day.

For example, at the beginning of our staff meeting this last Monday, we spent 20 minutes sharing praises and prayer requests and talking about how God has been working, and then we spent another 10 minutes in prayer.  Spending every day in an environment that is actively working to bring glory to God in all that we do is something that I can’t take for granted.  I am thankful for that.

I am thankful for the relationships formed through SSI.  The family our office becomes—people who share life’s joys and burdens.  I am thankful to be able to pour into hundreds of students every year; from Ambassador League to LEAD I get to meet amazing students, hear their stories, pray with them, sing with them, cry with them, and join them on their walk for however long I’m able to.

I’m thankful to be in a position that lends to my strengths in detail work.  I love that I can implement so many of the hundreds of ideas I have whether it’s how our programs are run or internal procedures or even entirely new programs.  I can’t imagine being at a job where I was such a small cog in the great workings of everything that I wasn’t able to bring up ideas and help bring about changes.

I’m thankful that my office reflects some of the quirks of real humans.  From celebrating Waffle Flipping Day, to writing down funny things that are said in the office, to keeping up our Christmas tree all year and decorating it for Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Earth Day, and Construction Season, we aren’t put in a box here, and that is incredibly refreshing.

SSI has been in my life for 10 years, and I’m thankful for the way it shaped me, from being a student and feeling the exhilaration of finishing a trial, to coming back an ADC and connecting with students and watching them step up, to taking on the role of Head ADC and feeling out of my league but learning how to bring a team together to accomplish a goal, to coming on full time as the Director of Programs and again feeling out of my league in my first full-time job, to filling in as Director of Operations and ONCE AGAIN feeling out of my league but being excited for the challenges and growth ahead.  Now that I’m back as the Director of Programs, I can be thankful for all the times God took me out of my comfort zone and helped me grow through SSI.  I love my job and am thankful for the way God has provided in so many ways through it.