So I finally quit my job, but it was expected right? My last day was in fact June 1st. I am now working at Garden City Chapel. It is a church/retreat center where youth groups come to have their summer camps mostly. I've worked here before. I am going to treat this summer as a transition into what I was made to do. Interestingly, I've had 4 churches show interest in me becoming their youth pastor. I don't think that's what God wants me to do, but I am going to pray about it. I think that its interesting that if you are a young Christian male you are automatically going to be considered a good candidate for a youth pastor. Food for thought.
I'll try to keep you up dated (if anyone reads this, probably not).
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Schemes
I got a telephone call from an old "friend" a couple of weeks ago and he asked me if I wanted to grab some lunch. Currently this person is manager/part owner of a video production company here in Anderson, so I thought that he might need some help video editing (something that I enjoy doing). So we get some lunch today and I thought to myself, "this might be an awesome opportunity if I can get in with him." Oh how wrong I was. Sure, he wanted me to get in with him, but it was all part of a pyramid scheme. The story goes like this.
We're just sitting around talking and laughing when, BAM, he pulls out this pamphlet of information about this "mentorship" program. At first I thought that it had something to do with his business, but after about he opened up the brochure, I knew that I needed to run for the door. I didn't. He was telling me about how nice it would be to live a lifestyle that's much better than the one I am currently living right now. I thought that my lifestyle was pretty good, you know? I just wanted to vomit afterwards because I felt taken advantage of. I once heard about a scheme that you should send $20 to the person who sent you the message and they would do the same for their people before them. Then you send out a whole bunch of letters out and people send you money and eventually you end up with $800,000. Please. Maybe I'm just old fashioned but I've always felt like you should work for whatever you have. I hope that I can always do that.
Well, I've been praying a lot for the right place to go. Hopefully my last day will be June 1, 2007!
We're just sitting around talking and laughing when, BAM, he pulls out this pamphlet of information about this "mentorship" program. At first I thought that it had something to do with his business, but after about he opened up the brochure, I knew that I needed to run for the door. I didn't. He was telling me about how nice it would be to live a lifestyle that's much better than the one I am currently living right now. I thought that my lifestyle was pretty good, you know? I just wanted to vomit afterwards because I felt taken advantage of. I once heard about a scheme that you should send $20 to the person who sent you the message and they would do the same for their people before them. Then you send out a whole bunch of letters out and people send you money and eventually you end up with $800,000. Please. Maybe I'm just old fashioned but I've always felt like you should work for whatever you have. I hope that I can always do that.
Well, I've been praying a lot for the right place to go. Hopefully my last day will be June 1, 2007!
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Work
I have been at my current job for nearly a year now and I have come to realize that it is not for me. I work from eight to five Monday through Friday and I drive in from nearly an hour away. When calculated up (not counting days that I have to work over) that is one-third of my whole entire week in five days. This is my story.
I graduated from Clemson University in December of 2005 ready to enter the business world...so I thought. I was hired by and upstanding business in my hometown community and I thought, "well, this is a sweet deal. I can live with my parents for a while and just have a hop skip and a jump to work in the morning. Awesome." Well that wore out quickly. I realized that I wasn't into the whole moving back home deal after all, so after about 3 months at my job I moved out. My home town has about 5,000 people in the whole city. We're so small that we don't have a Wal-Mart. I moved to the larger city of Anderson, SC. The drive wouldn't be so bad if I was going to a job that I liked, but I'm not. Nothing against the company really, but I'm just not that interested in making money for someone else. I don't think that is my purpose in life. That last sentence is what I have been struggling with for quite sometime now. I believe that God has plans for my life - I have a purpose (Jeremiah 29:11). The major question that I keep asking is how to figure out that purpose. I am a member at a church called NewSpring Church and this past Wednesday the preacher talked about how to hear God more clearly in your life. He talked about how in Genesis and other parts of the old estimate in particular, God would talk sometimes audibly to the people who He was trying to teach. If you heard someone today saying that God spoke to them in an audible voice you would probably think they were a loon (not that it doesn't happen anymore its just not as heard of, or at least in my circle its not). Well, Perry outlined a few things that I thought were relevant in my search to hear God speak to and about my life. First he said that we have got to understand that God is the center. The first verse in the Bible states that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The thing to highlight there is that God was there in the beginning. He was has always been here. I think that is such a profound statement and whenever I can understand that better I think that I will be able to understand that my role on this planet is not to be seeking out whatever I think is best for me. A selfish attitude like that will always lead to a downfall. There are many rich people in this world and they maybe have obtained their fortune by always looking out for number one. Those people aren't happy. They are just filling a void. A void that should be filled by God, or at least their family or love in general. I know that's an aside but still I think that its important. We all do this and until we find what we are looking for we won't be ever be filled with joy. Happy, maybe, but happiness only comes from the situation. The word happy comes from the same root as happenings. That is to say you are only happy when things are happening your way. Joy on the other hand is constant. You are always filled with joy even if you aren't happy. I once heard that you show your true character when you are in the worst of situations. You don't typically fake it during those times. I feel like my job is keeping me from being happy. From my previous definition your joy can't be stolen. But I wonder sometimes, if I'm never going to be happy in my job (where I spend a great deal of my time). I hope not. I tend to take the negative point of view on many things anyway, especially when the situations (or the happenings) aren't going my way. Does this mean that I lack joy in my life? Maybe. I hope not.
I applied for two jobs this past week. Both of which are at local universities. I would love to go to work there. I know that it won't be easy, but I think that I would be happier working with people, with students. I spoke with my girlfriend earlier this month and I told her that I know that a job will not make me joyful no matter where it is. I wonder if God is teaching me that, if he is teaching me that I need to find my joy in Him before I go searching for it in another job. I wonder if I am trying to fill a void in my life. One that is specifically for Him. I read a favorite quotation of a good man recently and it said "I don't love God, I don't want to love God, but I want to want to love God." That's me. I wish I wanted to love God. I wish I didn't do what I don't want to do. Like fret over my work.
I was speaking to a friend over some good music the other night. We were talking about the fact that he is getting ready to graduate from Anderson University in May. I asked him what he was going to do, and, of course, he said that he didn't know. He told me that he feels pressured to get a job after college. He told me that he really just felt like he was on the verge of a break through. That's the way I feel. I really hope its the case. I don't know.
I'm watching LOST for the second time tonight and this particular episode they are talking about destiny. Do I believe in that? I know that God has a plan, but is the plan specific? Or is the plan just to have me prosper? Is it my choice how I get to prosperity or is it His? I want to help someone tomorrow. I want to help many people tomorrow. I want to make a difference in the world. How am I going to do that if I am going in early to work tomorrow so I can get all of my work done by around 5. When I leave there i am going to come back to Anderson and go to the gym and run 6 miles. Then I am going to come home, go to sleep, wake up and do it all over again. I would rather wake up and go help someone, and do that day in and day out. I was thinking today about going into teaching. Would I be a good teacher? A girl at church told me that I would make for a cool professor. Would I? Is that the path I should go down. Should I go back to school and get my PhD? My Masters? If so, what area? Economics, music, graphic design? I really would love to be an artist of some sort, but there aren't enough jobs for everyone in those areas. But do you want to get into that for the jobs or for the love of it? If that's the case then should you have gone to school for that? The questions are endless. I just want to help people. I can't say that enough. I love people and I feel like (as selfish as it is) it will be very rewarding. I spoke to my mom, who by the way is a retired educator, and she told me that working with young students will be the most rewarding. I guess that's because they are the ones who can't really think for themselves. There is a great deal of responsibility to teach them because they will typically believe anything that you say. Perry once said that when he was a child that his dad told him that if he went out to play in the snow that a snow snake would slither up his rear end and freeze him from the inside out. He believed it so much that he proceeded to tell his whole class at school. That's the impact that you have on small children. They are quick to believe; I guess that's how we should be too.
I graduated from Clemson University in December of 2005 ready to enter the business world...so I thought. I was hired by and upstanding business in my hometown community and I thought, "well, this is a sweet deal. I can live with my parents for a while and just have a hop skip and a jump to work in the morning. Awesome." Well that wore out quickly. I realized that I wasn't into the whole moving back home deal after all, so after about 3 months at my job I moved out. My home town has about 5,000 people in the whole city. We're so small that we don't have a Wal-Mart. I moved to the larger city of Anderson, SC. The drive wouldn't be so bad if I was going to a job that I liked, but I'm not. Nothing against the company really, but I'm just not that interested in making money for someone else. I don't think that is my purpose in life. That last sentence is what I have been struggling with for quite sometime now. I believe that God has plans for my life - I have a purpose (Jeremiah 29:11). The major question that I keep asking is how to figure out that purpose. I am a member at a church called NewSpring Church and this past Wednesday the preacher talked about how to hear God more clearly in your life. He talked about how in Genesis and other parts of the old estimate in particular, God would talk sometimes audibly to the people who He was trying to teach. If you heard someone today saying that God spoke to them in an audible voice you would probably think they were a loon (not that it doesn't happen anymore its just not as heard of, or at least in my circle its not). Well, Perry outlined a few things that I thought were relevant in my search to hear God speak to and about my life. First he said that we have got to understand that God is the center. The first verse in the Bible states that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The thing to highlight there is that God was there in the beginning. He was has always been here. I think that is such a profound statement and whenever I can understand that better I think that I will be able to understand that my role on this planet is not to be seeking out whatever I think is best for me. A selfish attitude like that will always lead to a downfall. There are many rich people in this world and they maybe have obtained their fortune by always looking out for number one. Those people aren't happy. They are just filling a void. A void that should be filled by God, or at least their family or love in general. I know that's an aside but still I think that its important. We all do this and until we find what we are looking for we won't be ever be filled with joy. Happy, maybe, but happiness only comes from the situation. The word happy comes from the same root as happenings. That is to say you are only happy when things are happening your way. Joy on the other hand is constant. You are always filled with joy even if you aren't happy. I once heard that you show your true character when you are in the worst of situations. You don't typically fake it during those times. I feel like my job is keeping me from being happy. From my previous definition your joy can't be stolen. But I wonder sometimes, if I'm never going to be happy in my job (where I spend a great deal of my time). I hope not. I tend to take the negative point of view on many things anyway, especially when the situations (or the happenings) aren't going my way. Does this mean that I lack joy in my life? Maybe. I hope not.
I applied for two jobs this past week. Both of which are at local universities. I would love to go to work there. I know that it won't be easy, but I think that I would be happier working with people, with students. I spoke with my girlfriend earlier this month and I told her that I know that a job will not make me joyful no matter where it is. I wonder if God is teaching me that, if he is teaching me that I need to find my joy in Him before I go searching for it in another job. I wonder if I am trying to fill a void in my life. One that is specifically for Him. I read a favorite quotation of a good man recently and it said "I don't love God, I don't want to love God, but I want to want to love God." That's me. I wish I wanted to love God. I wish I didn't do what I don't want to do. Like fret over my work.
I was speaking to a friend over some good music the other night. We were talking about the fact that he is getting ready to graduate from Anderson University in May. I asked him what he was going to do, and, of course, he said that he didn't know. He told me that he feels pressured to get a job after college. He told me that he really just felt like he was on the verge of a break through. That's the way I feel. I really hope its the case. I don't know.
I'm watching LOST for the second time tonight and this particular episode they are talking about destiny. Do I believe in that? I know that God has a plan, but is the plan specific? Or is the plan just to have me prosper? Is it my choice how I get to prosperity or is it His? I want to help someone tomorrow. I want to help many people tomorrow. I want to make a difference in the world. How am I going to do that if I am going in early to work tomorrow so I can get all of my work done by around 5. When I leave there i am going to come back to Anderson and go to the gym and run 6 miles. Then I am going to come home, go to sleep, wake up and do it all over again. I would rather wake up and go help someone, and do that day in and day out. I was thinking today about going into teaching. Would I be a good teacher? A girl at church told me that I would make for a cool professor. Would I? Is that the path I should go down. Should I go back to school and get my PhD? My Masters? If so, what area? Economics, music, graphic design? I really would love to be an artist of some sort, but there aren't enough jobs for everyone in those areas. But do you want to get into that for the jobs or for the love of it? If that's the case then should you have gone to school for that? The questions are endless. I just want to help people. I can't say that enough. I love people and I feel like (as selfish as it is) it will be very rewarding. I spoke to my mom, who by the way is a retired educator, and she told me that working with young students will be the most rewarding. I guess that's because they are the ones who can't really think for themselves. There is a great deal of responsibility to teach them because they will typically believe anything that you say. Perry once said that when he was a child that his dad told him that if he went out to play in the snow that a snow snake would slither up his rear end and freeze him from the inside out. He believed it so much that he proceeded to tell his whole class at school. That's the impact that you have on small children. They are quick to believe; I guess that's how we should be too.
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