Lesson Learned

I know it has been awhile since I wrote here, but I have been going through a real rough patch and I haven't felt up to writing in quite some time. Most of you probably know I lost my job at Thanksgiving and then my grandfather (maternal) passed away that following Monday. In March my grandmother (maternal) as passed away. Dealing with the loss of my grandparents was tough, but I have been able to accept it. Dealing with the job loss has been much harder - although there have been some good lessons to learn.

I have learned that I need to do a better job of being humble and simply striving to do the best that I can at whatever job I may be doing. If I do my best, then God will take care of the rest. This has been a rather difficult lesson to learn, but it will definitely serve me well in the future.

The other lesson here is something that I should know but so easily forget and that is to put Christ at the center of everything I do. Having a daily devotional life is something that I have struggled with for a long time, especially when things are going well. It is so easy to go about life without really focusing on God during the good time and then trouble comes and we quickly go running back crying for help. God would prefer that we spend some time with Him every day, in good times and in bad. I now subscribe to a few e-mail devotionals that are helping (my unlimited free time helps too). That should help me stay grounded when I do find another job and hopefully I will always remember to start each day talking to God, because that is the key to a blessed life.

In other news: Renee graduated in December, passed her boards in February, and landed a nursing job in March. She works 3 12hr shifts on days each week and every third weekend. Oh yeah, Renee also got her hair cut.

Taking it all

As I was driving home from church today, I was listening to Third Day and had a real insight into my relationship with Christ.  I was listening to "Give" off of the album Time.
"You said all that follow You may find /
Comfort and pain, blessings in hard times / 
Were I to leave, where else would I go? /
The words of life and of truth You hold //

All I want is love /
I confess to this /
I will take it, Lord /
All You have to give //

how great the love lavished on us all /
that we can be the children of God"

What really struck me was the true impact of the song.  It's not saying I will take the good parts; it's saying that I will take it all.  God promises to be there in every situation.  He promises that we will find "comfort and pain, blessings in hard times."  The pain and hard times really hit me hard as the last few months have seen pain and hard times for me.  But if I am really a believer and if I really trust God, then I must take it all.  The good times will be there, but so will the bad and being a true believer means taking the good with the bad.  There is no "good times only" option with God.  If I am going to take this God thing, then I have to take everything He is going to give me.  The great thing is He promises to be there for everything good and bad. Yes, things have been hard recently, but GOD is there, HE is with me in the hard times, HE will see me through.  If only I will give up myself and let God do His thing, if only I will accept everything He has to give me, if only I will surrender completely; then He will provide all that I need.

This revelation also coincides nicely with the sermon our pastor preached this morning. He preached on the story of Zacchaeus and how Jesus, without ever meeting him, called him by name. Christ knows each and everyone of us by name.; If He knows me by name, then He knows where I am at and what I need. If He knows me by name, then who am I to doubt him - even in the darkest of times. So wonderfully reassuring today to hear that message and reflect on what being a Christian really means.

Warning: Left Lane Closed Ahead

Some drivers are real idiots.  Coming back from Chicago yesterday, I got to meet several of them.  There was an electronic message board over the interstate clearly stating that there was roadwork in 2 miles and the left lane was closed.  So what do the idiots do...that move into the LEFT LANE!  Now what about LEFT LANE CLOSED AHEAD did they not get.  About a mile away from the closed lane there are the orange signs on either side explaining that the left lane is closed in 1 mile.  More idiots decided that the left lane is a good idea.  If all these idiots had decided at the first sign to just nicely move over to one of the other 3 available lanes and agree to do 50mph for a few miles, instead of insisting on 60, then everyone would get through faster.  Instead they have move into the left lane and bottleneck everyone.  This slows everyone down, including themselves.  Like I said...some drivers are real idiots.

Minor LeagueBaseball

I love going to minor league games.  The price is right and you are usually treated to a good game.  Last night was definitely a good game.  Renee and I went to watch the Fort Wayne TinCaps (single A affiliate of San Diego) take on the Bowling Green Hot Rods (Tampa Bay Rays).  For the first seven innings it was pretty quiet except for two plays.  The TinCaps hit a solo home run in the first and later on the Hot Rods failed on a suicide squeeze bunt (guy runs from third on the pitch and hopes the batter gets a bunt down, otherwise he is gone).  The Hot Rods went quickly in the eighth and then we struck for two more runs.  Going into the ninth with a 3-0 lead felt pretty good.  Oh how wrong we were.  The Hot Rods took off for five runs and the lead, taking all the air out of the crowd.  Now trailing 5-3, it felt like we were going to lose.  Then their pitched walked the leadoff man, and then the next guy, and the third guy.  Three straight walks had the crowd thinking we could win.  The pitcher was throwing it everywhere but the strike zone.  Then he walked the next batter scoring a run, 5-4.  Then he issued his fifth straight walk, 5-5. CRAZY!  So now the score is tied and the bases are still loaded.  Then the pitcher hit the next batter, 6-5.  TinCaps win!  I have never seen such a disaster on the mound.  Five straight walks and then a hit batter to lose the game.  I actually feel sorry for the pitcher.  After the game there were some great fireworks.  All-in-all, it was a really great time.

5 Years

A lot happens in 5 years.  You go from newborn to the beginning of a long academic journey that starts with kindergarten.  You go from dorky 8th grader to confident high school senior; or from confident (and graduated) high school senior to adjusting to your first real adult job.  Like I said, a lot happens in 5 years.

As of this past Friday it has been 5 years since I married my best friend Renee and, indeed, a lot has happened.  I have gone from looking for a teaching job, through 2 years of substitute teaching and working practically every weekend for the YMCA, to mildly successful bank teller looking to move up in the industry.  Renee has gone from working as a bank teller to Physical Therapy Aide to full time nursing student.  Through it all we have had our ups and downs, good times and bad, but we still love each other very much.  The past five years seem to have passed by in a blur and I am sure time won't be slowing down anytime soon.  The next five years will bring all sorts of new adventures for us like finding a nursing job for Renee and adjusting to a life without textbooks (YEAH, I can't wait!).  I love this ride called marriage and I couldn't have asked for a better partner that Renee.


In other news that is also quite fun, we got to visit with some friends from college this past week.  Our friends Nathan and Mandy were on their way back to Connecticut from Minnesota and decided that Winona Lake was a good place to stop Tuesday evening.  We really enjoyed the visit and were glad they could stop by.  Also glad they came through on Tuesday and not Wednesday when they would have joined us in riding through tornado laced thunderstorms.  Oh well, typical Indiana summer weather.

Massively Overdue Update

Right, so this whole regular blogging thing hasn't worked out so well. The original plan was to use my day off (Tuesday) to post something to the blog. If you have read the previous few posts you know that in May I started at at new branch. As part of that change, I lost my day off so it has become a bit more difficult to find time to write. I do have a nice chunk of time this morning before heading off to work however, so I think it is time for an update.


CAMPING
Back in May, Renee and I went camping with our college friends Joel and Julie and their son Kyper (almost 1). We went May 14-16 to Warren Dunes State Park, so things were a wee bit on the chilly side but actually not too bad. Cold at night, but layers are wonderful things. Saturday morning Joel and I head out on Lake Michigan in his kayak and had a blast; even if getting out was somewhat of a challenge









Obviously the gentle rocking motion of Lake Michigan had a profound effect on my ability to maintain my balance back on land.

In the afternoon Joel and I headed out for a lengthy hike (3 hours) around the park. Due to recent rains we had to take some creative detours around areas where the trail was flooded behind the dunes. It was fun and we did enjoy climbing and then descending the dunes. We could see the entire Chicago skyline on Saturday from the top of the dunes. Just behind the campgrounds is a nice large dune with a great view, so we climbing it Sunday before leaving and enjoyed the great view.



We also discovered that going down large dunes can be dangerous to your health.



All in all we had a great time with Joel, Julie, and Kyper. The weather was great and, unlike the last time we went camping with them, there were no tornadoes. If you don't know that story, ask me sometime.

Memorial Day
Over Memorial Day weekend, we did a whole lot of not much. With Renee in school, she spends most of her time studying. However, we did find time to hang with family and friends. On Sunday we went over to my parents and spent the afternoon with my family. We watched the race and had a great time. On Monday, we went to Ft. Wayne to do some shopping and then up to Kendallville for a cookout with friends. Unfortunately, the rain decided to come down in 55-gallon drums (as opposed to simply buckets) on the way to Kendallville. After barely making it through three separate massive puddles, we pulled over and called for help. Fortunately our friends have a nice SUV and knew ways to avoid the flooded areas; so we were able to enjoy good company and good food. The only downside was that in driving through to puddles, I destroyed the inner fender liner on my car. Not good. Fortunately the repair was not too bad.

June
Not much to talk about for June. It has been a pleasantly quiet month with Renee working on school and me working on work. I did achieve one major goal. Last week I finished my year long journey through the Bible. This was about the third or fourth time that I had attempted to read the entire Bible, but I never seemed to make it in the past. This time I kept a journal to go with the reading and that really helped. In the past I had no problems with action books like Genesis, Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Chronicles, 1 & 2 Kings, the Gospels. I also found most of Paul's letters interesting. My problems centered on the Prophets, Leviticus, Numbers, and Revelation. I used the NIV Study Bible this time and it contains some excellent notes that really helped me understand what exactly was going on.

Anyway, that is all for now as I must get ready to go to work. I will try to post more regularly, but I won't promise anything.

New branch

Okay, so first of all, this whole posting every week thing is just not going well.  The problems is that I don't really have much to post.  My life is full of lots of routine.  I get up, go to the gym, go to work, come home.  BLAH,BLAH,BLAH!

Every once in a while something does happen that deserves posting.  This week I started at my new branch.  I had mentioned in a previous post that this was coming.  So far everything is going well.  I am still getting adjusted to everyone and how things work.  Despite being within the same company, the branch has its own individual quirks and such that I need to adjust to.  Anyway, this branch is definitely busier which is nice.  I now work five days a week instead of four, but my days are shorter.  It's a trade off.  Anyway, that is all for now.  When something else fun happens, I will post again.