Trust, Patience, and the Adventure

It's been a while since I spent some time to blog. I've been spending a lot of time hanging out with Dylan and introducing him to all the people I've been so fortunate to meet in Charleston. I also had the opportunity recently to go back to Wisconsin for a week for a friend's wedding. It was great to see my parents, spend some time in the northwoods, and see a few friends. It was starting to get cold though!

HOMELESS MINISTRY

It's been difficult to meet new homeless people since we are living close to a half hour from downtown. Fortunately, Leroy and Leon stop by after our college aged group called "The Well" on Monday nights to see my friend Neil and I and in hopes of getting some food. We have food after the group every week and if they get there early enough, they are able to have some, or we usually have leftovers we can give them if they come after all the students have dispersed. Leroy always has something encouraging to say about his walk with the Lord and how encouraged he is by our love for God. Hopefully I will remember to bring my camera today or sometime soon so that you guys can put a face to his name. I believe that Leroy really knows and understand who God is and that his relationship with the Lord is growing daily.

Leon doesn't really understand it all. He was very confused the first time he walked by The Well. He thought that the building must've turned into a bar and that we were all getting drunk. I explained to him that we were worshiping God and that all the college students in there just hoped to grow deeper relationships with the Lord. He was still confused, so I hope that he continues to stop by. Maybe one of these weeks he'll be interested enough to come in and experience an hour of worship with us!

For the past month Dylan and I have been hoping to find an affordable place to live downtown. We had hoped to be in a location where we could go outside and find people to talk to within a short walk or longboard ride down the street, but the prices to rent downtown are outside of our budgets. While I was in the woods at home I spent a lot of time thinking about different living options, along with what I've been taught through God's Word about spending money and placing myself in useful situations. I decided that I could probably live outside of the downtown area and still have this ministry as long as I made it a point to frequently place myself in locations where there are people in need.

I want this ministry to be a lifestyle. Too often people separate their ministry from their life. People volunteer at a soup kitchen once a month, then ignore those same people when they pass them on the street. I want them to know me and recognize me as a Christian. I want them to know who I am and know why I am the way that I am. I want them to trust me, and trust, for these people, only comes through a lot of time spent together. I hope that I will have the opportunity to continue seeking out new relationships and growing in depth with the relationships that have already been initiated.

JOB SEARCH

Well.... Dylan got a job today! We stopped by Lowes and he bought some of the equipment he'll need to start a painting job tomorrow. He is feeling a lot of pressure to perform at top quality, so we'll be praying that he hasn't lost any of the skills he'd previously acquired and that he impresses the new crew.

I'm still searching daily. I recently came across a couple opportunities that I'll be following up on this week, but nothing looks promising yet. I also had time to think about my job search and what I really want to do for work while I was at home. I've decided that I really want to get into energy consultation. I would go into businesses or homes and talk to owners and occupants about different options for lowering their utility bills. This kind of position would utilize my engineering background while determining what changes could be made, but would also utilize my communication background by integrating marketing and sales of equipment to owners into the job. This type of job is something I may be able to start on my own through partnerships if the doors open, but I'm still learning about how it would work and the different options I would have through it. It's still in the early planning stage, therefore, still only an idea.

I was encouraged during multiple discussions while at home that I need to be more dauntless and approach companies with confidence that I have skills that can benefit them. I plan to walk into a couple companies this week and discuss potential opportunities with them, hopefully making an impression and allowing them to  see who I am as a person and a potential employee before even applying for a specific job.

HOUSE SEARCH

Dylan and I found an awesome place to live today, but it was a 3 bedroom house. We're hoping that we can find someone who would be able to share it with us, but after contacting a few people about the opportunity there doesn't seem to be much hope. We trust God's plan in where He places us, so we will continue searching until we find the right match. Until then, hopefully we can continue to serve the women we are living with in appreciation for allowing us to bring our stinky, uncleanly, and unemotional masculinity into their home.

ADVENTURES

I haven't talked much about the adventures I've had since moving down here. Some people have suggested to me that if I'm having fun, I must not be trying very hard to find a job. I may be wrong, but I've learned that the best thing for me to do sometimes is completely separate myself from something in order to think about it.  Having fun and meeting people also leads to opportunities that aren't found by sitting on a computer searching indeed.com and monster.com all day. Therefore, I try to keep going on as many adventures as possible!

Our current roommate, Kristen, has an amazing family, and a father that so often blesses us by taking us to places where we can experience God's awesomeness! A few weeks ago we were invited to go fishing offshore. The ocean was as flat as a table. It looked like a northern Wisconsin lake at sunrise. We spent some time fishing and saw a sea turtle a few times, then Kristen and her dad went scuba diving, while Dylan and I sat on the boat watching to make sure everything went safely. I had the fortune of getting the invite to go diving the next dive a couple hours later. I have snorkeled before, but never scuba dived. I got a quick crash course and was told to just hold onto Captain Bo's back in order to stay with him and for safety purposes. I think I made it a little difficult for him to swim, but I didn't want to get lost!

While we were diving we saw a ton of fish. There were large schools of Black Sea Bass and Spanish Mackerel. There were also a lot of cool reef fish. We were actually spear fishing while down there and ended up shooting a couple Flounder and Mackerel. I kept showing my air gauge to the Capt. so that he would know how well my air was doing. I wasn't concerned about anything other than running out of air. There were a few moments where I would start freaking out about the fact that I was breathing underwater, but I'd take a breath and by reminded that everything was okay.

We were about half an hour into our dive when I looked into the distance and saw a very large shark. I tapped on Captain Bo's shoulder and pointed it out to him. At first he didn't see it, but then turned back around and looked at me putting a hand above his head which indicates that there is a shark. Like I said, all I was concerned about under there were my oxygen levels, so I was still very calm after seeing the shark. It helped that I had seen a sand shark while snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef. The shark we had just seen didn't seem to want much to do with us either, but we didn't take any chances. Captain Bo took the stringer of dead fish off my arm and started swimming toward the nearest anchor line. I didn't realize that he was concerned about the shark til after we had gotten out of the water. I was convinced everything was going to be alright, and thought we were only swimming back to the boat due to our oxygen levels. I guess we didn't want to be swimming around in the water with a huge shark and a bunch of dead fish hanging from our arms!

We did a little more fishing then decided that Captain Bo and Kristen were going to come back that night and go for a night dive. We headed back to shore and had dinner, got more supplies for the night, and caught some more bait, then headed back out to the same spot. By time we got back out it was dark so we had some lights on in the back of the boat that light up the water a little bit. After a short time anchored down in a spot Dylan started freaking out, "Yo, whoa, whoa, whoa!". We all turn around and see the shark swimming through the lights in the back of the boat. Captain Bo asks if we want to catch it, and Dylan responds with a "yes" without even hesitating. We end up tossing some bait out and waiting.

At 2:30 in the morning we're all sleeping and the shark hits our Amberjack tail that we had thrown out as bait. I stepped up to the plate first and fought the shark for about 10 minutes before it felt as if the shark was no longer on the line. I kept reeling and the bait was soon in view off the back of the boat. Right behind the bait was the shark chasing it down. We opened the bail and let the shark hit it again and take it for a little while before we tightened up the line again. We finally had the shark on good and took turns fighting until we got a look about an hour later! It was a Tiger Shark, the third most dangerous shark found in the ocean. In the water I would've called it 14 feet long. From in the boat it looked more like 11, but I'd say that looking into water from air leads to distortion, so I've decided to go with the more accurate measurement of 14 feet!

We ended up fighting the shark for about 2 and a half hours until the line eventually broke due to a mixture of stress and friction. The sharks tail would weaken the line as it pulled away from the boat. We weren't too upset about the shark getting off. We had all gotten fairly good looks, our muscles were spent from the fight, and we were going to have to cut the line eventually anyway. It was awesome! I was scuba diving with a 14 foot Tiger Shark!

ADVENTURE 2

We went offshore again yesterday. I was able to go on two more dives, so I'm feeling a lot more confident than I did the first dive. I learned that it's very important to know the difference between the button that puts air into my vest and the button that removes air from my vest. At one point I was hoping to sit on the bottom and pressed the wrong bottom which led to me floating toward the surface, almost to the point where Captain Bo was out of view. Fortunately, I figured out what I was doing right at that moment and I was able to get down to the bottom.

After we returned to the boat on one of the dives I was told there were Remora suctioning onto the bottom of the boat. I had already taken off all of my gear but I wanted to take a look, so I grabbed a mask and jumped back into the water. I was watching the fish and I was about to surface and get back into the boat but decided I wanted to keep watching for a little while longer and took a breath. At this moment, I also remembered something I was taught when I was very young- humans can't naturally breath under water. Hopefully I don't make that mistake again!

On the way back to Charleston we saw some things jumping out of the water in the distance. The first time I saw it, it had jumped so high that I thought it was a pelican diving into the water. Then, it happened again, and again! We realized that they were dolphins jumping at least 5 feet out of the water! We approached what ended up being a pod of 20-30 dolphins and watched as they surfaced and swam all around the boat. Fortunately we were still offshore far enough that the water was clear and we could see their every move. Dylan jumped into the water first, then I followed after taking a few pictures. With our heads under water we could hear the high pitched sound of the dolphins communicating with each other. We swam around for a while and had the dolphins swimming all around us. We watched them swim in formations to our left, to our right, and under us. I watched 6-8 dolphins go under me, then come straight up to the surface, flip upside down, swim back down, do flips, then come right back up, all synchronized together like I was at Sea World, except, I was in the wild!!

We swam back to the boat after the pod had gotten some distance from us and decided we would try to take the boat back toward the dolphins. As we approached them they came to the bow of the boat. As Captain Bo drove and I controlled a video camera, the 4 other members of the crew were able to lay on the bow of the boat, reaching down, coming within inches of touching the backs of the dolphins as they led our boat back toward shore. It was a glorious event!!!

I'll never forget either of these adventures, and I'm so thankful that God has blessed me with such amazing opportunities.

PRAYER REQUESTS

Thanks for Dylan, his car, and his job!

Pray for a place that we can live, either the two of us or with roommates that the Lord has placed before us.

Pray for continued patience in my job search and that I would find a job where I can utilize my skills and knowledge, but more importantly, live for God and serve Him.


Love you all!!! Charleston is a great place for a vacation for those of you who need a break from the cold!

Slapped Across the Head #1

I make a lot of mistakes. My mom would say that they're mainly physical, but she's a nurse, so she's very keen to my injuries. I would say a majority of my mistakes are done mentally. I forget things. I actually just remembered, as I have been typing this, that I was supposed to find a way to sell my books back to school a couple weeks ago. I'll have to follow-up with that as soon as I fill you guys in on the adventure. Lots of times as I remember things that were forgotten, I often feel the need to hit myself on the back of the head. I'm not sure that this ever happened to me as a child, so it's most likely not because of my upbringing, but I've seen it in a lot of movies.

I was recently convicted about something and I felt as if I had gotten hit over the back of the head by the Holy Spirit. A lot of my friends are joining staff with Cru, so I have a lot of conversations with people who are trying to raise financial support in order to go where they feel God is calling them. I often take some time to talk to these friends about not being so focused on the future of their ministry that they miss the opportunity to partake in ministry as they are raising support. I was reminded of that as I was listening to a sermon yesterday, and I started to feel a slight sting on the back of my head.

I wouldn't say that I've been missing opportunities for ministry, but I realized that I've been so focused on finding a job and a place to live that sometimes my heart isn't all in for what God is bringing to me today. Every day is supposed to be lived in and of that day, and I continually catch myself living for what God is bringing in the future. I appreciated a little reminder that God uses us every day. He doesn't just wait to use us in the good times. He doesn't wait til we're on some sort of pedestal, but He uses us all along the way.

HOUSE UPDATE

Dylan moved down last week. We've had some amazing and crazy adventures since he came down, including scuba diving with and catching a 11-14 foot Tiger Shark! I was very glad I made it out of the water. We're both currently residing in Kristen Machado's beach house. Emily, the girl with the heart of a champion, is living here as well, and Megan Green, she's a Texas girl. I never would've thought I would come down here, being blessed by the company of Dylan, and living with a bunch of women, but it's been great! They are all very wonderful and make sure we're fed and well taken care of, which I'm sure our mothers in Wisconsin will be happy to know.

We've been looking for a place to live downtown. Dylan doesn't have a vehicle and isn't sure he wants to get one, and I still feel called to be downtown in order to be closer to the homeless people and college students where I was feeling so many ministry opportunities. We have been following up with a few craigslist opportunities, so we're really hoping that one of them works out soon.

JOB UPDATE

I have still been networking and attempting to find an engineering job, but I still haven't found anything. With the arrival of Dylan and the hopeful opportunity to be living in a house together soon, I have decided it's time to start making a little bit of money, so I followed up with a few craigslist ads today that I'm waiting to hear back from.

I truly believe that God wants me here. I still don't know whether it's for ministry or for a career, but I will continue to walk forward so that I walk right along with His plan. Just as I told you about the vision I had where God was the size of the Hulk, I will continue to walk forward with my eyes on His back, knowing that I'm following the Man who knows the perfect plan for my life.

Dylan picked up a bunch of applications for restaurants a few days ago, and we returned them today. He is also following up with some craigslist ads, so I'm sure he'll find something soon.

PRAYER REQUESTS

Praise God for bring Dylan down and providing us with a home with two warm beds and air-conditioning!

We would love to have a place to live downtown. The girls are great and they have been a huge blessing, but we think it is time to give them their house back and get to serving the Lord downtown.

Jobs. I'm not sure where God wants us to be, but pray that He leads us to a place where we can serve Him the most.

Thanks! Love you all!!!