Humbled Again

We have seen a lot of highs and lows over our journey this past year. I have learned some valuable kingdom lessons throughout this time. I have a friend many have seen my posts about looking for a job only to find closed doors in every direction, due to past mistakes and some interviews not turning out as he would like. He has been knocked down on a constant and what does he do? He looks at me and smiles and says God is good. He gets up and he tries again, tonight I wrote a letter of recommendation for him ( I never thought I would qualify to recommend anyone but hey I have him fooled I guess). I worked with him on many occasions and the guy has no quit he works hard and doesn't give up. I wrote this letter on his request for a job he interviewed at and they are telling him he can't be hired due to sporadic work history since he got out of prison. The only thing sporadic is a lack of a second chance, upon exciting prison he started using his VA benefits going back to school full time when our govt decided to cut va funding. He had one month to find employment because his school money was gone. Enter sporadic ness he applied everywhere now two weeks ago he got hired and now works at KFC, before that he worked with me every chance I had work for him, and did a great job everytime. I write this not to ask for him a job but to let people know good people are trying hard and their faith in God keeps their light shining even In the neighborHOOD. Keep your hearts and eyes open don't be to quick to look down on those who may be sitting on their front porch or around town not working during the day. Their story may be one you want to hear! God placed this man in my life and he has become one of my best friends. God is good all the time and all the time God is good!!!

Psalm 33: 4-5

Why Ask Why

                    

            I have been asked several questions over the past year that I may not have fully answered. Why quit the fire department? Did someone make you mad or did you hate your job? No I loved my job and I love all the people I worked with. It was not always a bed of roses and I didn't always get along with those I worked with but I still really enjoyed it. Why quit well my wife and I felt called by God to put our faith where our mouths were. You see we have been going to church and claiming to be Christ followers for years but our lives hardly showed it except on Sundays and Wednesdays. We ourselves asked why to that and started to study and pray on that and we listened and heard Gods call on mission. No question after that we knew what we had to do, I fought it for six months finally my wife wrote my two week notice and our true life began. We have grown closer as a couple and family since then. Why move to a poverty stricken area of town and live with those people? Will your kids be safe? Your gonna get robbed and all your stuff will be taken. Well we moved down to an area of town that sees and has a lot of bad news daily, where we try to share the gospel and bring love into an area that the love of God is not seen frequently. We are just as safe maybe safer than we were in our little subdivision. We have loved on our neighbors and they love us to the point that we don't have to worry, our house is the most secure in the block, it is watched like a hawk. If we do get our stuff stolen what have we lost? Stuff, it is all replaceable, and guess what we probably have to much excess anyways. I have been questioned so much as to why we have done what we have done, we lived in a life where we depended on ourselves to get things done in our lives and we left no room for God. We have flipped that we no longer depend on self but on God there is little room for self when your heart, eyes and ears are on God. This is not easy I like to have a constant flow of funds and excess so that I know when the bills are due I can pay them. I let that go and depend on God that he will provide. I have been doing all kinds of work as jobs come along that seem to get us enough to pay our bills. I have mowed lawns, painted a house, demo work, to even just being a patient ear and help a lady out through a stressful time at her house. How did these jobs come about? God, I have not advertised and I have not pushed it I have listened and when opportunities arise I jump on it and get it done. I continue to get questions and to be honest I am down to the answer of its a God thing. My question is why did it take us this long to figure this out?

 Disclaimer God may not be calling you to this lifestyle, but you do have to stop and listen if you want to hear where he is calling you.

Food for thought Matt 19 18-22

Blogging my life or at least while the internet is still on.

Ok after over a years delay I am back to blogging this is going to be a little different than before. My plan is to not just blog about what we are up to. I plan on opening up to the stresses of daily life living in a different way trying to follow Jesus through the streets and poverty stricken areas of America. I plan on sharing spiritual struggles, physical struggles and life in general. Transparency is not something you see a lot of in middle class living. There is always room for smiling through stuff and putting on the mask and family picture that hey we got it together and everything is alright. Guess what we don't have it all together and everything is not alright. I have found a significant difference in lifestyles between middle to lower class over the past year. One being in community, when you are struggling in poverty you are open with friends and there seem to be more of a sharing of lives and spiritual issues not the facade of will you pray for my "friend" they are having some real issues right now. I want to be upfront and personal in ways that make us uncomfortable sharing in our experiences so you can see our passion for following Jesus through the good times and the bad. If you are reading this it means you chose to follow this blog, now I want to warn you first; I am going to be sharing my feelings and opinion on subjects about life in general and sometimes I will weigh in on current social issues. Since you chose to follow if you disagree with some or all that I post please comment or call and we can discuss between us don't let the sun go down with a disagreement between us. If we can't discuss the issues that you have with my post please unfollow the last thing I want to do is create a stumbling block for you. That being said this will be from a struggling Christians perspective so your not gonna see a whole lot of f-bombs and things of that nature not saying I don't slip up and drop them now and then but you will not read that here I will censor that part of it. Most posts will be less than a page, less than a minute of your life if you care to waste it hearing my ramblings. Love you all for coming along this crazy journey. I am no longer on Facebook, I still have an account only to share my blog to, I will not comment or post anything else on there thanks. 

The path is not traveled much it is unkept, rocky and full of hills and valleys, if you will get off life's highways and follow it you can live for eternity.

Food for thought Mathew 15 8 and 9