Another Employment Update

It has been awhile since I have updated my blog readers on the status of my journey towards a new job. Since my last update, Christmas has come and gone. Today we will finish putting away the last of our Christmas decorations and our tree goes to the recycle pile. Since we traveled to Colorado Springs for the Christmas holiday, we did not decorate our house as much as we normally do. Sadly, some of my favorite nativity scenes were packed in my office "stuff" boxes in our storage unit, so they didn't get to be enjoyed this year. Not having an income changed the way we did most things, but it also reinforced the joy of being with family and enjoying those moments far more than the commercial part of the season. I really missed not being part of a Christmas production, but I was blessed to attend several in our area and in the Springfield, MO area. I read more Christmas stories and writings this year than ever before, and all-in-all, we had a wonderful celebration. As you might imagine, however, all church hiring activity stops from Thanksgiving through the New Year, so there wasn't much activity on that front.

I am waiting to hear on a couple of possible positions, I have recently applied for a couple of others, as well. Kathy and I are trying as hard as we can to hear from God. We are confident in His love and care for us, and know that He knows exactly where we are. We also know, however, that 20 million Americans are out of work. Many of those are devoted Christians, trying to trust God just as much as we are. We also hear the sad stories of homes lost, bankruptcies, financial devastation and family unrest as people try and cope with this very difficult time in our country's history. We had our house on the market, but after 6 months we took it off the market and have decided to wait until spring to try and sell it again.

So where are we? We have had and continue to have some tremendous prayer and emotional support from our families and great friends. We have had just-in-time financial support that has helped us stay current with our financial obligations. We are using our savings, but at a slower "clip" than we expected. Our faith in God's provision for us is at an all time high and we are confident that God's open door for us will be revealed soon. Thank God we are not in this alone. Blessings for a New Year...