What a whirlwind adventure the last few months have been, moving, starting a new job, getting everything settled. After finally getting internet installed (from a man who reminded me of an older version of Moose) I'm back onto the blogging scene (and hopefully the Facebook scene, but we'll see about that one).
It's been pretty hard to be away from the excellent community we were part of up north, and I'm pretty sure I can echo the words of Paul when I say that my heart aches for you guys -- it's something more than just missing. Not that we're not engaging here, and finding a church and getting plugged in. Neither Wifey nor I wish that we were still in the northwest -- we know this is where God has brought us, but we miss each of you all the same.
To answer Risa's Facebook question in a more public way, we'll be driving North for Christmas, and should get there on the 23rd or 24th, and be there the week between Christmas and New Years before having to pack our bags and drive back home. We'd dearly love to see each of you, and maybe in some kind of Monkey event if we can pull it off (if not, coffee is always just as welcome).
Wifey is still looking for work, and it's been more than a little challenging for her to be home alone all day. We're fortunate to be near our cousins, so Wifey often gets out with kids and has a good time. We've also been very fortunate to get plugged in with a 'new newly marrieds' small group, which is INcReDibLe. Every couple there is walking through the same phase of life we're at, and it's soo nice to meet friends our own age whom we can laugh, play cards with, and talk about what it means to be married. After church today we went out to lunch with a lot of them -- it feels good to see God building a community here that we get to be a part of. I remember when I was new to all of you up North, and when you were mostly strangers who I worked with or knew of, and how over two years we become very close. I'm excited to think of what could happen here over the next few years, knowing the same good and loving God is at the head of this community as well.
I don't know what everyone else did for Halloween, but at work we had a party and I went as Peter Parker, 1 because: Dude - Spider Man, and 2, because I figured I could pull off the geek look an minimal cost (I'm already a geek :) It worked out pretty well, and I even won one of the costume awards, so good deal. I'll have pictures on Facebook soon (just as soon as I can work up the courage to face the tsunami of unanswered facebook-dongles awaiting me while I've been offline).
Last night for Halloween Wifey and I went to Disney Land on a whim for a date. We got a very appreciated early Christmas gift of year passes so we can still get out of the house while we're broke. They had the haunted mansion all dec-ed out for 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' and even space mountain had a 'Ghost Galaxy' setup. It was good to get out, good to be on a date, and good to get a chance to talk while walking around the park and waiting in line (we left our cell phones in the car). I know I don't want us to be the 'sit at home and watch TV because we have nothing better to do' couple, but so often I struggle to think of something better to do. Not being around all my old married friends and being a newly married couple, I have no idea what 'normal' married people do when they hang out before they have kids (maybe sit at home and watch tv? ;) Maybe part of being married is relearning how to enjoy your time together in a new context. I was telling my sister on the phone that before you get married, you kind of think that marriage is like this next step in the natural progression of meeting, dating, engagement, etc. But really, it's like a metamorphosis, where you still have that foundation you build while dating, but the day in and day out experience and operation is fundamentally different. I guess I'm having to learn how to succeed at this new game, and I suppose that'll take time -- in the meantime, it's an adventure :)
But that's all I've got for today (with my really really long post). I love you each, and I'll be writing again soon.
- Fawkes
Sunday, November 1
Great is thy Faithfulness
God is so faithful.
Isn't if funny how we always are led to say that only after He 'shows up', as if in our times of darkness or doubt he somehow left the building and we have to catch up with Him?
I know I feel like that a lot of time. Wondering, 'God, where are you? Where did you go?'
When Wifey and I moved down here from Oregon, we came with a sense that even though we didn't really understand all of why or how, that God had called us. We came with faith.
By that faith I quit my old job before I accepted this new one or its financial package, by faith I moved out of state with my new bride to a place neither of us had ever lived and didn't know anybody but family. By faith I moved back into a field I didn't want to be in, and by faith, we've been living at a deficit of $250 dollars a month buried in debt and moving expenses since we've arrived.
So Wifey has been scrambling for a job (and hasn't found one yet) and I've been looking for side-work, just to make ends meet -- and sometimes in the quieter moments wondering why Jesus is running late. Not irked, not upset really, just stood up at a restaurant, wondering what's keeping Him. Wondering.. 'gosh, why are we supposed to be here.'
At church we've been going through James, and that bit at the beginning where he writes:
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds"
Seriously James?
Well... yeah. Nobody likes trials, they're hard, they drain us stretch us, exhaust us. Some of them last for days, some for weeks, and some for the rest of our lives. And I used to think that I had to consider trials joy, which seemed just a bit crazy to me; but that's not what James writes; he writes, 'consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds". It's not about the trial, it's about the opportunity that we've been given to learn to trust upon a faithful God, even in our shakily faithful experiences. It's been a challenge, but I'm trying to refocus my eyes -- like those magic eyes. Do you remember those? They just looked like a mix of colored confusion, but if you stared at them, and focused your eyes as if you were looking through them, you'd see a 3D picture emerge. What are the opportunities I have, to see a dynamic God at work through my confusing and often painful / difficult circumstances?
What about you?
I was talking to my sister on the phone just the other day; she's in college and has had a pretty rough semester so far, between 2 jobs, pre-med classes and some personal obstacles. She was telling me that some mornings, all she could do to get through her day, was pray, 'Jesus I believe in your victory today, and I need your victory in my life.' What an honest, humble, and powerful prayer. Yesterday, Wifey and I were driving, and fell into one of those rare and beautiful moments of honesty and prayer, and prayed that prayer together.
Today, just before sitting down to write to you, I opened my paycheck and sat down to wrap up our November budget. I zeroed it. I can't explain how, but somehow the $250 deficit is gone, and we've even got a little extra some months to save and pay down debt.
God is so much bigger and better than I give him credit for, so much of the time. It's refreshing to be reminded that I can't make God out to be better than He is. Think about that for a moment. No matter how good or loving you know (or hope) God to be, He's better still.
Truly, truly Jesus you are worthy of our praise. Forgive our narrow perspectives and fickle hearts, and help us to praise you through the good and through the bad, knowing that over all of it you are LORD.
Isn't if funny how we always are led to say that only after He 'shows up', as if in our times of darkness or doubt he somehow left the building and we have to catch up with Him?
I know I feel like that a lot of time. Wondering, 'God, where are you? Where did you go?'
When Wifey and I moved down here from Oregon, we came with a sense that even though we didn't really understand all of why or how, that God had called us. We came with faith.
By that faith I quit my old job before I accepted this new one or its financial package, by faith I moved out of state with my new bride to a place neither of us had ever lived and didn't know anybody but family. By faith I moved back into a field I didn't want to be in, and by faith, we've been living at a deficit of $250 dollars a month buried in debt and moving expenses since we've arrived.
So Wifey has been scrambling for a job (and hasn't found one yet) and I've been looking for side-work, just to make ends meet -- and sometimes in the quieter moments wondering why Jesus is running late. Not irked, not upset really, just stood up at a restaurant, wondering what's keeping Him. Wondering.. 'gosh, why are we supposed to be here.'
At church we've been going through James, and that bit at the beginning where he writes:
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds"
Seriously James?
Well... yeah. Nobody likes trials, they're hard, they drain us stretch us, exhaust us. Some of them last for days, some for weeks, and some for the rest of our lives. And I used to think that I had to consider trials joy, which seemed just a bit crazy to me; but that's not what James writes; he writes, 'consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds". It's not about the trial, it's about the opportunity that we've been given to learn to trust upon a faithful God, even in our shakily faithful experiences. It's been a challenge, but I'm trying to refocus my eyes -- like those magic eyes. Do you remember those? They just looked like a mix of colored confusion, but if you stared at them, and focused your eyes as if you were looking through them, you'd see a 3D picture emerge. What are the opportunities I have, to see a dynamic God at work through my confusing and often painful / difficult circumstances?
What about you?
I was talking to my sister on the phone just the other day; she's in college and has had a pretty rough semester so far, between 2 jobs, pre-med classes and some personal obstacles. She was telling me that some mornings, all she could do to get through her day, was pray, 'Jesus I believe in your victory today, and I need your victory in my life.' What an honest, humble, and powerful prayer. Yesterday, Wifey and I were driving, and fell into one of those rare and beautiful moments of honesty and prayer, and prayed that prayer together.
Today, just before sitting down to write to you, I opened my paycheck and sat down to wrap up our November budget. I zeroed it. I can't explain how, but somehow the $250 deficit is gone, and we've even got a little extra some months to save and pay down debt.
God is so much bigger and better than I give him credit for, so much of the time. It's refreshing to be reminded that I can't make God out to be better than He is. Think about that for a moment. No matter how good or loving you know (or hope) God to be, He's better still.
Truly, truly Jesus you are worthy of our praise. Forgive our narrow perspectives and fickle hearts, and help us to praise you through the good and through the bad, knowing that over all of it you are LORD.
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