Virginia Episcopalian Magazine Spring 2013 Issue | Page 8

Discernment continued from page 5

planning, I read up on the milestones in our process, charted
the minimum times needed to “hit each gateway,” and decided
I needed to attend the May retreat so that I could start deacon
training in September, allowing me to complete it just in time
for my next military transfer.
As it happens, I chose to retire, and will follow my
wonderful wife, Rebecca, to another diocese as she pursues a
professional degree, and we transition to following her career
after two decades following mine. I have faith that, wherever
we land, God will continue to call on me, and that his people in
that place will recognize those calls.
Another great mentor, the Rev. Deacon Linda Murphy,
later advised me to embrace discernment as a process offering
growth and joy. I have come to understand the wisdom of
those words, and although I continue to feel deeply the call
to the diaconate, that wisdom has freed me to see Gods calls
afresh every day.
Lindsay Ryland
Transition Ministry Officer, The Diocese of Virginia
I took a job and found a vocation.
I have been called a “church rat.” So why would I be so
surprised that God was calling me to a ministry that I didn’t
even know existed in 2001? In 2000, I was in my 27th year of
banking when my position was moved to Jacksonville, Fla. It
was not a good time to move. Recently divorced and caring
for my aging