Challenges

Challenges, Roadblocks, and Faith

          Well today was a challenging day for my whole family which included a few roadblocks requiring us to have trust in our faith to make sure that everything turns out ok.

          To start off today was the first day of school for my kids whom we are homeschooling this year. This is not something that is just new to my wife, but also new to myself and my children as well. What makes this even worse is that we did not really receive a timeline from the home school people telling us the best way to do it so my poor wife is kind of winging the whole thing. In addition our first road block surfaced when we realized that my daughter was going to need almost constant instruction on the computer, of which we only have one in the house, and that we were going to have to find a way to get a second computer into the house to help her out. I have complete faith and trust that my wife is going to get this straightened out and fall into a rhythm that the kids will be able to flow with. The kids on the other hand, are having a hard time distinguishing between mom the teacher and mom the parent. This is something that we as a family will have to work at, I will be off my night shifts next week and will be able to help out a little more to relieve my wife of some of the stress.

          Roadblock two came once I woke up this afternoon. I knew while applying for seminary that it already wasn’t going to be an easy path to follow, but I have ran into an obstacle right off the bat. Even though my pastor wrote a great reference for me it was addressed by the admissions board today that I have to know my pastor for at least a year for the reference to be accepted. For me this was extremely disheartening and reflected in the way that I talked to my wife. She was trying to tell me about her troubles for the day and I was very abrupt with her and made her feel bad. I should not project the way that I am feeling on to my family. This is just something that I want to do so bad, and I was just trying to rack my brain and figure out who I could contact for the Pastoral reference letter. This is something that I am still trying to figure out now, but I have come to the realization that this is just another test for me to pass, it is also a avenue to bring back relationships that I have let fall to the side due to lack of contact. I now have the chance to track down my old Chaplain that I served in Iraq with, it might prove to be impossible to contact him, but I will give it my best attempt. I am also going to send an email to the admissions board explaining that there is only one other person of the clergy that I have known other that Pastor Gregg and that due to military moves you tend to not keep in contact. I would hate to have this be the reason I am not admitted into school. I will keep my faith strong though and pray for guidance. Thank you for reading and God Bless.

G.E.D.D

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Waiting

Waiting is Nerve Wrecking

            Well as the title says, waiting on an answer for something you want to do is extremely nerve wrecking. This week I completed the process of submitting my application for Seminary school through Moody Bible Institute, and now I am just waiting on the response from the school. Unlike most schools who will accept you just to get your money, this one actually has an approval process.

            The application alone was a little nerve wrecking because I was providing some fairly personal information to people I have never and will probably never meet. I had to answer questions not only about myself, but also about my wife and her previous marriage. For me that was a little weird, but I guess I understand why. When you make the decision to serve God in the way that I feel I am being led to serve, I have to stand for all mine and my family’s decisions. I am pretty sure though that my application portion was solid.

            Then of course is the transcript process of the application. This was a fairly easy process for me to complete. I am now just hoping that most of my classes that I have taken this far will transfer over to my new school, that would help to focus my studies in Word instead of core classes, which is what I am looking forward to.

            The last portion of the application and probably the one I am most worried about is the personal reference portion from my pastor. I am not worried because I think my pastor would say anything bad about me, but the process says that my pastor should know me for at least a year. Well there is no pastor that I have ever known for a year, but Pastor Greg is the only pastor that has truly had the chance to get to know me both personally and spiritually. I am hoping that my strength and dedication to my faith and my love for God will reflect and give strength to my application. Although my pastor did send me a message telling me that as long as the admissions team didn’t read his reference letter I should be good for the school. HAHAHA didn’t think I would throw that out there did you Greg. Nah I am just kidding, I have complete trust and faith in my pastor, and if he doesn’t think I am ready then I would respect that no matter what.

            So now comes the hardest part of the whole process, the waiting. I was told that once the school gets all the required documents I should have an answer within a week of yes or no on the admission. I am putting all my faith in the Lord to guide this answer and will respect whatever answer is given to me. You see I look at it this way, I feel that this is something that the Lord has put on my heart to pursue therefore the answer will be a yes. If this is something that I am being led to do for myself and not for God then the answer will be no. I will say this though, even if the answer is no, that does not mean I will give up. I will just study harder, pray harder, and seek more spiritual guidance until I fulfill this thing that has been put on my heart. For those who know me would all know that 6 months ago I would not have even thought about going into ministry. Thank you and God Bless.

G.E.D.D.

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More Decisions

Decisions, Decisions, and More Decisions

          Well the time has come that my wife and I had to take a hard look at our life and decide what we could do to make it a little easier in our lives both spiritually and financially. You see if there is something that I have learned throughout my life and most recently my Journey is that these 2 things actually go hand in hand. Most couples in life that you see are financially straight and well off have a better overall spiritually strong relationship. I know that should not be the case, but in this day and age that is just the way it is. So we have decided to take a look at the things we have and start to downsize and determine the difference between what we want, and what we actually need. That transformation began yesterday with the purchase of a new car.

          I know you look at this and say; well if you are trying to downsize why would you buy a new car? Well I can answer that for you. First off my wife and I already had 2 cars. We were financing a 2009 Mini Van and a 2003 Suburban. We love both cars because of the size and fact that each one could carry our family as a whole when they are in town. What we had to look at is this really a necessity and if not what could we do to save a little bit of money. Well as far as if it was a necessity we realized it truly wasn’t. The van gets about 23 MPG and the Suburban gets roughly 16 if I am lucky. So ATM with the price of gas and the location of my work, I find myself spending about 100 dollars if not more a week to get back and forth to work in the Suburban, sure it would have been a little cheaper if I had driven the van, but not much and anyhow I like the cool guy car. What I truly needed to realize is that it is not always about being cool you know. It should always be about what is best for my family not my own personal pride. Of the two vehicles we have the van has the higher monthly payment and money owed, not to mention it only fits 7 and when my kids and all are here we need more space.

          So the first step in our downsizing was for me to go and trade the van in for a sedan that gets better gas mileage. So we prayed on this and yesterday I finally did it, and I believe we have made a good cost effective decision. So I went down to the dealership (which I hate to do) and started the process. I got pretty lucky, we knew going in we were upside down on the van but not by a lot. My wife had blue booked the van so we had a baseline of how much it was worth. Well the dealership gave me 18k for the van on trade in and started showing me some sedans. Our idea was to get a good used car but if you know me you already know what happened. Before I knew it they had a 2012 Nissan Altima in front of me, now I knew that the monthly payment on this was going to be right at or below what we pay on the van and that was my goal, not to go up in monthly payment but to save on gas. Well the Altima gets between 32 and 40 MPG so that was a plus. Then I got just about 3K in rebates off the vehicle and they dropped the sticker by a grand, so that just ate up my negative equity in the van so I believe the praying helped out. In addition we got our GAP insurance, 100,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty, and a year of free oil changes thrown in on the deal. So in the end, we are paying the same as we paid for the van a month, and if we have done our numbers correctly I should save about 300 dollars a month on gas alone with this purchase which will definitely help out.

          I credit all this success to God. My wife and I have put all of our decisions in God’s hand. We now pray about everything that we do and follow the guidance that is put in our heart by the Lord. He will always provide for us, that is something that we whole heartedly believe in. There is never going to be just a snap decision that we make again. We will continue to seek out His guidance and help and do everything that we do to glorify Him.

The Bible says “Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house, your sons like young olive trees around your table. In this very way, the man who fears the Lord will be blessed. May the Lord bless you from Zion, so that you will see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life and will see your children’s children!” Psalm 128:3-6

Even though this is our first step in downsizing I know it is one in the right direction. As long as we keep our faith in the Lord we can never be led astray. I love God, my family, and all my brothers and sisters. Thank you and God Bless.

G.E.D.D.

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The Decision

The Decision

            This is sort of a continuation from my last blog. It is mainly confirming the path that has been laid down in front of me. I had time to go home and talk to my wife and pray over the matter a little more. In addition I was able to attend another Bible study at my Church and talk to Pastor Greg. Everything I have talked about, prayed about, and have received answers for are all leading to the same answer. Go for it.

            I understand that the decision to change my schooling focus to Ministry is not one to be taken lightly. I also understand that it is not a career field that you go into for monetary glory or fame. My wife had asked me when I talked to her about this; do you know in your heart that when all is said and done, that this decision will be able to take care of the family not only spiritually but also financially? I can answer without a shadow of a doubt yes. I know in my heart that this decision is coming from a higher power, and as long as I am doing what the Lord is guiding me to do, then in the end all will be taken care of. As I learned last night going through our Bible study is that as long as I am pursuing LOVE everything else will fall into place. I might not understand that why at 37 years of age God has all of a sudden put this path in front of me, but it is my duty to follow that path even though I might not understand it. As long as I follow this path and put my faith in the Lord, nothing can go wrong.

            I already know that I am asking the world from my family. First off from my wife and children, I am asking them to support my decision in this journey. We will have tons of life changes in our household, all of which will help to strengthen our family as a whole. Secondly I am asking my parents, who did not raise me in a religious environment, to trust that I am doing the right thing and to believe in me. What is funny about parents is that no matter how old you get they always believe in you and will support you. Lastly I am asking my friends to trust and respect my decision to follow this path. In the end, if they don’t they are not the friends that I should have. I have recently reevaluated all of my relationships and have severed the ones that do not bring me closer to God. The friendships that I had that were destructive and not constructive are now out of my life. I only have a select few of my friends in the military that I still associate with, and those that I do are solid and reciprocate the love that I have for them. As far as my other friends, well that is simple, they are my Church family and as such are more than friends they are family, and I know they will support me.

            I know that this journey is going to test me all the way through, going to work full time and school full time simultaneously is not an easy feat. I know that I will be successful in this because it is what God wants me to do and God would not send me on a mission to fail. It is completely up to me to commit myself 150% to this endeavor and that is exactly what I will be doing. Please pray for me in this journey because I will be praying everyday about this. Thank you for taking the time to read and God bless.

G.E.D.D.

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