Moving to Gresham Oregon

Today Alexis and I are hauling out, down south to Gresham Oregon (an eastern suburb of Portland). We’ve got a u-haul full of stuff on top of the things we took down earlier this week. I’m even bringing my cat, although we are not sure what we’ll be doing with her, hopefully because I am sharing a basement with just one other guy she (the cat) can stay with us. If you could keep us in your prayers it would be really nice. It’s been stressful lately with packing things up, having to get a million things done, and for me living on a couch for a month has taken its toll. We are looking forward to this blessed time and I know that if I look for God’s work I will find it and be blessed.

Way too much stuff

I have way too much stuff. I cannot believe the amount of stuff that I have acquired in just four years that I have been living out of my parent’s house. Right now I have five medium, one small, two large, one extra large box full of my things, and there is more to come. This of course does not count the eleven pieces of large furniture and all the kitchen stuff. All this for just one single guy, the day I have a family is surely going to be the day I simply higher movers or the local youth group. Anyway, one more week until Alexis and I move to Portland Oregon, and she has five boxes of her own.

Prepare the way

Life is so much more interesting to talk about in a public forum when you’ve got a schedule and see more than just one or two people a day. Let me just say that waiting to get back into ministry, school, and have a job again is not exciting. There are some nice sides to it like getting to sleep in until you feel the sun beaming down on your face and going to bed when you actually feel tired and not because you know you’ll regret getting up if you don’t go to bed at a certain time. Then reality hits in when you logon to the banking website and see that no money is coming in and you know you will not have any for another month or so.

Some people might begin to second-guess my decisions because before I went to Poland I had it good. I was making a very comfortable amount of money for being just 21. I had a large amount of money in stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, and I was putting away almost $500/month into different kinds of savings account. Then God called me to a place of dependence, and that place was Poland. I raised money for a year, through support letters and speaking in different churches. Then I left and served for a year with young adults and helping a new church plant. In that year I always had enough money to live and sometimes bless others who otherwise wouldn’t have had enough.

Now I am leaving for Portland, to go to school, where I am only allowed to work 12 hours a week in probably just a minimum wage kind of situation. I am using all of the money from my stocks (not my retirement) to pay for tuition, and I am getting financial aid, but I still do not have enough to pay for more than two quarters. I am now seeing that God is calling me to be more faithful, trusting, and to live on the edge. I do not know why He is calling me to these kinds of places, I wish I knew what he were preparing me for, but I know that wherever He leads me the rewards will be great.

Be real?

I think many people do not know how to be real, and for me it is a bigger problem when we are Christian. We have to look into our own lives and recognize the things that we know do not honor and Glorify God. We have to be authentic with our feelings towards others and ourselves. We cannot be super nice to a person at church and then treat them or talk about them as if they did not exist on other days. If we are to truly be Christ like it means being consistently real. If you read through all the gospels you’ll realize that Jesus was the same in all circumstances. Jesus did not treat anyone differently just because they were at church, or just because they were Pharisees. Neither did he act any different around those people, his behavior was the same at all times. He is not afraid to do what is right. We should not be afraid either.

I know that I have some areas to work at in my life. There are times where I act different to impress someone, although it is fairly rare because I hate acting different than who I really am. But sometimes it just seems that for my own good I need to be a certain way, when in reality it isn’t for my own good. When I do that I am letting that person control me and oppress who I really am, and I don’t believe that God honors that. I have to be the person God made me and not let others mold me, except for God himself.

Neglect

I’ve been neglecting a lot (sometimes disguised as procrastination) of important things these past few weeks. I haven’t had a single quiet time with God since I returned, I haven’t ridden my bike (mostly because I didn’t get it back until this past Friday), I haven’t blogged much, but most of all I haven’t sought after my God. I’ve just been winging it, flying by the seems of my pants, letting the wind carry me from one place to another. This is fine for a while, but at some point I have to get on track and seek. I have to make choices to do things even when I do not feel like it, and I have to think about others and what I can do for them, I need to seek humility and correction, I need to see my God. I want to bless my God and I want to bless my people (my people would be those who are around me). Yet I find myself being selfish and centered on my needs, which is not right nor is it how I will find my God.

I am so blessed to have friends, family, and others who truly Love God, Love Others, and Love me. Many of them are too nice to tell me what I need to look at in my life, but thankfully I am convicted of things in my life to change just by the way they live. I want to know what I can change, I want to know where I fail to be a blessing unto God and people. I don’t want to neglect anything, but I have a horrible character flaw that unless I have some official role or I know that I’ll “get something” out of an event or situation I will neglect it until the last possible minute. I hate this pattern but for some reason it seems to repeat itself over and over in my life. The Lord gives and takes away, I pray that he takes this away from me and gives me the desire to serve and love with out expecting anything for myself.

FYI

I realize that I have not really given a good update on my life. So here goes…

Just two weeks ago, I returned from a one-year mission experience in Zakopane Poland and I raised money for one year before hand (and worked and went to school during that year). While I was in Poland, I received monthly support for field ministry. In March, a pastor from Easthill church in Gresham Oregon visited us in Poland. He told me about a program his church has started called “The International Training Program”, this program involves two years of schooling and ministry interning. I thought about this program for a while but figured that it would be a bit hard to come home and leave for the Portland area in a matter of four weeks. I ended up seeing this Pastor again at a European youth camp in The Netherlands. This time we talked and I took a step of faith to go, so I am going.

I returned on the 8th of August to Seattle, and I leave for Gresham sometime before the 15th of September. I have one more month of support money coming to help with the transition period and I have taken a couple of side tech jobs. Alexis is also going (on her own prayerful will), this is her last week of working at Kindercare (which she is very excited about). When I get to Gresham I will be seeking a “regular” job in the tech field (I was a network administrator for six years before I left for Poland), however the program limits us to only 12 hours of work a week since it s an intense program of ministry and schooling. I am excited and feel God completely blessing me all the way through. Just yesterday, some friends of mine gave me $600, which was just enough to pay for all the little things that needed to be taken care of. I am also using some of my savings, which I saved up when I was working fulltime prior to Poland, so that the money that people donate is used only for necessities.

Attempting to get a groove

I am attempting to find my groove around here. Since I have no job (and why would I when I’m leaving in just a few weeks), and I have no set schedule, it’s a little hard for me to feel like I am accomplishing anything. I’ve sent off just about all the emails I could think of that I need to do and know what to say, and I’ve done a lot of little errands to pay off my state-side life (IE my car insurance $898, long story). However, I find myself still without many words to describe to people just what my time in Poland was. I want people to be excited to serve God and go difference places, not only for others but to seek a deeper relationship with Him through the experience of depending on Him. Yet I find myself with a shortage of words to inspire and motivate people. I am sure that in time the words will come.