My First Year in Charleston
Wow. I've realized there's a huge difference between trying to see God working in a moment and looking to see how God has worked over a period of time. With the absence of modern day miracles that we experience in the United States, it's very difficult to see God working in the moment. It's much easier to see when you look back over a period of time as I've been doing recently.
Exactly a year ago today I woke up at a rest stop just outside Charleston. I had no idea where I was going to live, work, or who I would meet. I had just driven about 15 hours from Wisconsin in my Toyota Corolla, packed full of everything I would need to comfortably live for a summer in Charleston. After about a year of praying where God wanted me to go after graduating, I felt led to move to a city I had never been to before, with nothing but a car full of belongings.
The first thing I did that day was went to the beach. I always got a larger sense of God at the ocean. It amazes me that the waves never stop, day or night, from crashing onto the sandy beaches. After a morning walk on the beach I headed over to the nearest Starbucks. I wanted to get out of my car and into a more comfortable living situation as quickly as I could. I checked Couchsurfer, craigslist, apartment complexes, and other options around the area and didn't find anything that seemed like the right fit. I search for jobs and applied for as many as I could find, then eventually felt like I had put in all the time I could for the day and made my way back to the beach. I immediately started forming relationships with some of the people on the beach.
The first few days all looked the same. I would sleep in my car in the WalMart parking lot, although, due to the heat and humidity at night I wouldn't sleep very much. Then, the next morning I'd go to Starbucks and search the web, followed by a trip to the beach where I'd catch up on the sleep I didn't get in the car. After my nap I'd hang out with some of the people I'd met the day before, maybe play some basketball, then back to Starbucks at night to check my e-mail and see if I had a place to sleep yet.
After a few days being homeless had taken a toll on me. I had hardly gotten any sleep, and I was constantly having to stop at convenience stores and fast food restaurants in order to get ice so that my 3 month insulin supply would stay cold. I had gone to the beach and just spent some time praying about what the next steps were if I didn't find a place to live. I got a phone call from a friend who had reminded me that there was a church service I had wanted to go to that night at SeaCoast Church.
Before I left Wisconsin I had researched what churches in the area were a good fit and I had made a list of a few that I had hoped to check out until God led me to call one of them home. SeaCoast had a Saturday night service, so it was already in a league of it's own!
I went to church that night expecting something huge. Maybe the pastor would have a vision of someone in the church who needed a place to live, or maybe someone would just approach me to ask me if I needed anything. Well, the church service came and went, and although I had met a few people, I still didn't have a place to live. I went out to my car in the parking lot and took out my laptop. The church ended up having wi-fi, so I hung out for a little while hoping to find something online. I came up empty again, but as I was hanging out in the parking lot, I noticed quite a few people my age hanging out. I packed my stuff up and headed inside to see what was going on. It turns out that the college and 20-somethings ministry was hosting a musicians night to raise money for some of their summer mission trips. I met a few people, then got into a conversation with a woman about what led me to the service.
We started talking about where I moved from and why I moved. Then, she asked the money question. "Where are you staying?". Well, I told her that I didn't know yet but I had been living in my car for a few days. Right then, a girl who had either just been walking by or recently joined the conversation heard me and immediately offered me a room in an apartment she had downtown.
The road wasn't smooth from that point on. The housing situation was always fairly temporary until recently, where I'm finally settled into my third home since moving here. Fourth, if you count my car, or fifth, if you count the week I was homeless in between the first and second houses. God has been great in it though. Times were tough and I never really had a back-up plan, but I knew that all I had to do was keep putting one foot ahead of the other, and God was either going to put something under my foot so I could progress forward, or He was going to put up a road block in order to change my direction.
The job search was not ideal either. It can be read about in some of my earlier blogs, along with the rest of my story, but after spending a summer job searching, I literally felt like I had applied to every job I possibly could. I had networked with everyone I encountered. I just felt like I had to wait. I ended up waiting for a little while between the scare of not having any employment at the end of the summer and getting a job graciously offered by the dad of a friend. It was so good to finally have something to do and finally feel some worth! I worked there for a little while before the company I'm now working for contacted me, for the third time, to finally offer me a position. It started as a contract position, but in January became a full-time salary position. The company is great and I can definitely say that my knowledge is increasing.
I finally found an area of ministry to concentrate in. I didn't really need to choose anything previously, because I had enough free time to volunteer with everything. Now, I have felt led to concentrate on volunteering with the college and 20's ministry at SeaCoast, which is going to be awesome next year. Almost all of the staff have teamed up to go start a church plant in Denver, so the volunteers are working together with the new staff to really figure out how to have the greatest impact on the community of Charleston. By being a part of this community I've been able to build relationships with people that are building into me, as well as seeking out certain relationships where I can build into others.
I've slowly been taking steps toward starting A Helping Hand and Praise Jam as well. I know that they'll happen in God's time, just as everything else has happened in God's time. If you were to look through my prayer requests in all my previous blogs, you would see that God has been showing up SO much over the last year! He has been supplying me with my every need and desire. He is truly taking care of me every step of the way as long as I seek Him first as Matthew 6:33 teaches.
What to Look Forward to in the Future?
So much has already happened in the last year. I have formed so many more relationships than I ever would've expected. I'm involved in my church, in my job, in organizations outside of my job, and with relationships that I started on the beach recently and a year ago.
I can't even imagine what God is going to do for me over the next year. I would love to see A Helping Hand and Praise Jam take off to the point where I'm reaching people with the news of Christ through both of them. I've always believed that God has developed passions inside everyone with hopes that we take those passions by the reigns and follow them wherever they lead us. If this is true, then I know God is going to use my passion in both these areas to do things that I can't even comprehend right now.
I went to the doctor today for a diabetic check-up. The last time I was in the office the doctor had me do some blood tests that were meant to determine whether I may have a fairly new type of diabetes, type MODY. I found out today that it is very likely that I have type MODY, which is different than type 1 or 2. Some consider it type 1.5, but there are actually 4 types of MODY, so the doctor hopes to do genetic testing on me to determine what type I have. She told me that depending on what type I have, there's a chance I could just take an oral medication instead of taking the injections that have been a daily part of my life over the last 7 years. It's been a prayer of mine for 7 years that there would be a better way, and that I would find a doctor who would believe me when I told them I didn't have type 1 or 2. The day has finally come. As hopeful tears of joy wash down my face right now, I know that God has been there, taking care of me every day, watching me seek Him out, and waiting for His perfect time. I still don't know what is going to become of this. I was told by the doctor that genetic testing is very expensive and not covered very well, if at all, by insurance. I'm not sure how I'll be able to pay for it, or what they'll discover when it happens, but I know that God is in control and I can trust Him to take me through it just as He always has.
To everyone who reads these, I love you all so much. It means the world to me that people are invested in my life enough to follow what's going on in it and what God's doing in me and through me. If you ever need prayer, or have questions about anything I've written about, please talk to me about it.
With Christ's Love,
Kevin
