I now work for a software company.
Yup, you heard that right.
After 30 years in the newspaper industry, the firm I founded six years ago for a family-owned newspaper company was recently acquired by another software company that also serves the newspaper industry.
And overnight, three decades into a journalism career, I find myself working in the fast-paced start-up world, concentrating full time on software. Tell that to 22-year-old Devlyn, and he would have laughed. Back then, I had a difficult enough time operating the Apple IIes that were in my first newsroom.
One of my favorite adages about the mysteriousness of God's handiwork is: God draws straight with crooked lines. Well, guess what! ... This seemed like kind of a big fork in the road I never saw coming, there Big Guy!
But, as faithful people, it's incumbent upon us to have a little faith that God knows the destination he has us headed, and Shelley and I are going along for the ride.
I'd be lying to you if I didn't say there is apprehension.
After all, I'm joining a new-economy, remote-only software firm, where my colleagues are literally working from all around the world, connecting nearly solely through digital means. That means getting to know a lot more software, learning about coworkers through computer screens instead of the break room, and trying to keep up with a whole new business language that is nearly foreign to me.
However, deep down, there is also excitement.
The firm I now work for is called Column, and they are building truly innovative software that aims to support not only community journalism, but also improve public information systems at the same time. It's a lofty goal, and this is a thrilling time to be joining the company as it experiences its largest year of growth in its young history.
As in all of life, this new chapter is filled with both remorse and joy, of course. And it serves as a good reminder that God laughs while we are busy making plans. I never saw this chapter of my professional life coming, but I'm sure our clever and creative God had it in the works much longer than I'll ever know!
In the remorse column, there is the likely goodbye to the firm Modulist that I founded for Forum Communications Co., starting with the building of the website in 2018.
Before Modulist was purchased by Column on Feb. 2, we had expanded to processing the obituaries for 60-some publications all across the United States, managing about $4.5 million a year in revenue for our partner publications. It was lofty heights for a kid who graduated from a state college just thankful he was a good enough writer to catch on at the local daily newspaper.
Who would've ever thunk I would have had the opportunity to build a software firm! But that's exactly the plan that God evidently had for me. Crazy!
The good news is that the service Modulist provides will live on in a newly merged software platform that Column is building. They're taking their software and swallowing up the tech and services that Modulist provides to make one convenient and efficient service for media companies. So, forever more, our little team will be able to say that we positively impacted an industry we love!
Additionally, there is benefit to me personally as well.
Given that Modulist was such a small team, I needed to wear many hats for many years to help keep the company growing. This effort saw me not only as the company founder, but also its chief salesperson, marketing person and lead of the engineering team. And that kind of required effort over sustained years starts to take its toll. After five years on the software startup grind, I've reached a point where I'm more than willing to share this leadership with team as passionate and dedicated to journalism as we have been at Modulist.
I'm also excited what this new change will mean in other areas of my life.
Without the need to wear multiple hats at my "day" job, I am slowly unpacking being able to spend that time doing other things such as watching basketball with my hoops-crazed wife, walking the dogs more, seeing the kids more and pursuing this digital ministry project, as well as feeling more refreshed in my pastoral ministry as well.
This change in roles, hopefully means that I will get the opportunity to make good on a lot of promises to the most important people in my life!
Change, however, isn't always easy is it! ... I can attest that I find myself daily trying to find the firm ground that used to be there in my professional world and that was so familiar for so many years. I knew the newspaper industry, and the particular media company I worked for, like the back of my hand. Over here in this new digital world, I am a novice with so much to learn. It's enough to lead to a lot of uneasy feelings.
And so I find myself harkening back to two really important scripture verses that I continue to find relevant so often in times of change.
The first is Psalm 46:10: "He says, 'Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.'”
I come back to this verse so often because it reminds us that despite the frenetic chaos taking place in our minds and hearts in times of uncertainty, God is always constant. God is God, and that is the antidote to all that is unknown and ambiguous in this world. I may be in uncharted professional waters with this new career change, but I can always look to find God as my True North! ... This should help us to learn how to "be still."
And the second verse is Matthew 6:34: “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today."
A mentor pastor whom I worked with in seminary introduced me to the profoundness of this verse.
Let's be honest: Life is tough even on its best days. On lesser days, the troubles sometime feel insurmountable. And they can be if we let them drag us down the black hole of worry. But, there is relief in a faithful acceptance of God's will and a steadfast trust in God's loving design for each of us.
I've joked many times that when I write my autobiography, the title will be: "God Draws Straight With Crooked Lines."
This latest development has been a great big switchback on a great big steep mountainside, and it feels dangerously perilous to stare out the window over the side.
But as a wise friend once reminded me: I am batting .1000 on even the toughest days of this journey so far. So I'm just doing my best to enjoy this very exciting new chapter at Column!
Because evidently now I roll as a tech industry professional! ... Who woulda thunk it?
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