Tomorrow is officially the end of my work at Cie Studios and the start of a new chapter in our lives. It's weird for me to think about our future as a family without a job. For me, a job has always been about security and stability. With a job, you have that steady paycheck every few weeks, and the knowledge that even when you aren't performing your best, there is always food on the table. On top of that, we have been very blessed with additional luxuries like insurance, vacation and sick days. But all that is going to end real soon, and I have to admit that it's a little intimidating. It's intimidating because the next time I get the flu, we lose money for every day I'm sick. It's intimidating because of the inherent uncertainty of finding new work as a contractor. It's intimidating because, when I slack off and am unmotivated, it directly and immediately affects my family.
But for all the uncertainty of what could happen, I'm pretty excited. It's not just excited because I'll be able to see my family more, although that is a huge blessing in itself, but rather because I feel like we are truly stepping out on faith to pursue what God has for our lives. When Cortney and I first started talking about it three years ago, it was always in the future, something that would be cool if we could do "one day". Now it's something we are actually doing.
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Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Thursday, July 5, 2012
My Foolish Faith...
As far back as I can remember, Cortney and I have always dreamt about being available for ministry full time. I can remember how we would go for walks around Harveston for hours, just talking about all the things that God had done in our lives. As our hearts became more and more closely knit, and we started thinking about marriage, the conversation transitioned into where we saw ourselves pursuing ministry together. We had a ton of different ideas of what would be good, but the basic idea was always the same: we want to be 'tent-makers', serving where ever there was a need.
So after we got married, we started taking this idea seriously and started pursuing it. How does a college drop-out and a cosmetology school graduate enable themselves, by God's grace, to provide for their (growing) family and still have a schedule that is flexible enough to serve full-time? I don't know either, but I have been trying over the years to teach myself web and mobile development to this end. We don't know if this is the ultimate answer to our question, but after praying over this for years, we still feel that this is, at the very least, where God wants us now.
So where does that leave us? As many of you know, I've been working as an iPhone developer out of Long Beach for a while now, commuting two hours each way. And As you may guess, this has dramatically helped our ability to provide for our family, but leaves little time for ministry. So after tons of prayer, we have decided it is time to leave my current job and pursue consulting/freelance work full time. This is a big step for many reasons, and will give us a much more open and flexible schedule, and that's why I'm writing this. Much in the same way we pray for foreign missionaries, we ask that you would keep us in your prayers for these key areas:
1) That we constantly be seeking God's kingdom, and not our personal gain. It doesn't matter how successful/unsuccessful we are in our work, if we lose sight of why we went down this road in the first place.
2) That opportunities to serve would continue to present themselves. We are very blessed to serve in children's ministry, and will continue to do so as we feel that there is a great need (and opportunity) to help out there. It is amazing how much God impacts these kids lives at such an early age.
3) That all of this would come from hearts that put God above all things. Even a desire to serve can be bad if it doesn't put God before everything else.
I purposely left one thing off that list: that I would get enough work. Over the years, I have had to learn the hard way that I am not the one who provides and looks after my family, but rather God is. In obedience to Him, I am responsible to do whatever it takes to work for the provision of our family, and I will, but ultimately it's up to God whether we live or die.
I don't know what this next chapter of our lives has in store for us, but I do know that it's Cortney and my desire to pursue God with every fiber of our being.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
So after we got married, we started taking this idea seriously and started pursuing it. How does a college drop-out and a cosmetology school graduate enable themselves, by God's grace, to provide for their (growing) family and still have a schedule that is flexible enough to serve full-time? I don't know either, but I have been trying over the years to teach myself web and mobile development to this end. We don't know if this is the ultimate answer to our question, but after praying over this for years, we still feel that this is, at the very least, where God wants us now.
So where does that leave us? As many of you know, I've been working as an iPhone developer out of Long Beach for a while now, commuting two hours each way. And As you may guess, this has dramatically helped our ability to provide for our family, but leaves little time for ministry. So after tons of prayer, we have decided it is time to leave my current job and pursue consulting/freelance work full time. This is a big step for many reasons, and will give us a much more open and flexible schedule, and that's why I'm writing this. Much in the same way we pray for foreign missionaries, we ask that you would keep us in your prayers for these key areas:
1) That we constantly be seeking God's kingdom, and not our personal gain. It doesn't matter how successful/unsuccessful we are in our work, if we lose sight of why we went down this road in the first place.
2) That opportunities to serve would continue to present themselves. We are very blessed to serve in children's ministry, and will continue to do so as we feel that there is a great need (and opportunity) to help out there. It is amazing how much God impacts these kids lives at such an early age.
3) That all of this would come from hearts that put God above all things. Even a desire to serve can be bad if it doesn't put God before everything else.
I purposely left one thing off that list: that I would get enough work. Over the years, I have had to learn the hard way that I am not the one who provides and looks after my family, but rather God is. In obedience to Him, I am responsible to do whatever it takes to work for the provision of our family, and I will, but ultimately it's up to God whether we live or die.
I don't know what this next chapter of our lives has in store for us, but I do know that it's Cortney and my desire to pursue God with every fiber of our being.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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