Joshua started school

i don't want to take to much of Amber's blogging topics, because she is itching to blog about our move and other items.  but i did want to post a picture that was taken at Joshua's first day of school.  I love my boys.  

later

It's so hard to say goodbye

Yep... i quoted "boys II men"  from the 90's.  

Sunday starts the week that we officially close this chapter in our lives and move on to our next adventure...Osco.  Sunday Riverside is doing a farewell coffee hour in between services and then Wednesday is my farewell party at the Furnace and then on Saturday we move out of the house that we have been extremely blessed with for the past 5 years.  

We loved our house (even though it wasn't technically ours).  We brought Joshua home to this house and basically the boys have grown up here.  I can still remember the day we took our first tour with Pastor Jan and when we walked in, Caleb took off running with his arms above his head and yelling.  It was kind of like he was testing the place... and it passed with flying colors.  

Our new home will be drastically different.  As I sit here at 12:30 in the evening, i bet more cars will pass in the next 30 minutes than the entire day at our new place.  We are the proud owners of a propane tank in our back yard and well water that is not recommended for drinking.  The house is warming up to me each time i visit it.  We will have to make some adjustments / changes, but the worst part is...it's still not ours.  I really would like to own my home someday and be able to retire before i'm 60.  The last goal on my list is to not be one of those Pastors that just doesn't know  when to throw in the towel.  

Interesting conversation at church today, please keep me in your prayers.  

God, Help me to keep running forward...no matter what.

Next steps

office organized?  check

place to live?  check

reigns handed over?  check

alright...i think it's time for me to get down to the nitty gritty.  I've been here for 2 weeks now and i'm still not feeling like i have a grasp on the situation.  I don't know who are regulars, who my leadership team is, and where students are from.  When i took this position, they did not have a database for me to browse through or a list of who the leaders are.  

right now the church is participating in an area wide choir event and they practice at 7 every sunday.  I haven't seen the same group of adults there for 2 weeks in a row and over the summer they have college students that blend in very well with the students.  

wish me luck as i dive into this thing we call ministry.  I'm excited and nervous all at the same time.  

slacking already

Here i am not even a week into my new blogging adventure and i've already missed days.  

anyway, i've been pretty much locked in my new office for the past week.  if you have ever worked around me you know how OCD i can be about my office.  

- The book shelves didn't go all the way across the wall

- Chair rail that stopped halfway across

- Butt nasty bulletin board

- beat up filing cabinets and a misc counter top and cupboards 

- old 2 candle wall sconce that was burned out and not centered

so over the past week, with Kim Roomes help, 

--i have taken all furniture out of my office and the church has allowed me to purchase 2 new filing cabinets that match

- i bought a flat door and am using that for a desk (i seen it on a decorating show and it is what i had at my old office)

- removed chair rail and bulletin board, filled holes and painted

- removed old wall sconce 

- bought new shelving racks and shelve so it is a little more even (didn't work out exactly, but i'm happy with the results)

today i'm organizing all of my books and putting things away and hanging my pictures

tomorrow i'm buying a love seat from a friend and putting that in my office

hopefully i'll have pictures or a video of it when i'm done.  

thankfully the church painted it before i moved in and i really like the colors (they asked my opinion before they did it).  

 

Home hunting

today was a good day until we had to go and look at some houses.  We spent the afternoon swimming at my dads house and then in the evening we looked at 2 places in Orion...and that is when reality set in.  

Both of the places we looked needed a lot of work and were already asking over our pre-approved level.  we are trying to continue to walk in faith, but i don't know how many more steps i can take. this has already been a trying 7 months and i'm not really in the mood to deal with it to much longer.

God continue to direct me, and help me to continue to follow you no matter what is at 31 feet.

A new Era

Today was officially my first day unemployed by Chainglink.  I think i'm currently employed by OCC, but i don't start until Sunday or Monday.  I don't know...What i do know is that i moved all of my books and office things into my new office today.  By no way are things settled...just out of boxes.

one of my goals with this new job is to try and blog each day.  I've always wanted to be a journaler, but just can't do it.  I figure if i do a blog, then people can help me continue/hold me accountable.  

the question i've been asked the most in the past week has been... "are you excited about your new job?"  I've finally decided that question being asked right now is like asking someone who is still in the hospital after giving birth to their child if they want another one.   Now, if you have asked me this question and for some freak reason your reading this, it doesn't bother me.

my answer to this question seems to catch some off guard... No, i'm not really excited about this new position right now.  i am going to miss my leaders and the students.  I will miss some people from the churches, while i won't miss others.  But i do believe that this is where God wants us.  Our prayer through this whole thing has been  "THY will be done, not ours."  So God's plan calls for us to minister to the community of Osco Community Church and it's surrounding area and I will do that to the best of my abilities.   

I still don't know what the students are like and what my new leadership team consists of or what their interests are outside of youth ministry.  I'm very much a "do life together" kind of guy and i'm interested to see how this all will play out.

God, i'm not ready, but what's next.  Let me run like a rhino.