Kontakion

So whats the verdict for my first Sunday at Stehman Memorial, great. I felt everything went well, my first sermon was around the 20 minute mark, and even though the DS and myself have never performed communion there it went off basically without a hitch. I would post my sermon but I'm saving that for when I can start a church blog (at least thats what I'm thinking). Everyone at the church was really friendly to us and there are a lot of children for Olivia to play with. So more to come later this week :)

It's official now. I can talk about what has been happening in my life. I have been appointed to Stehman Memorial UMC in Millersville Pa. This all happened about three weeks ago, everything was announced this past Sunday, and I do my first service there this coming Sunday. It is amazing that this has happened now, and I will give a much more full update when I've had time to process. I've also been very happily working with Pa Counseling Services as a TSS and have been learning the ropes at that job. Now I will be working at balancing 35 + hrs a week at Pa Counseling, and 20 + hrs (but we all know more) at Stehman, and family time. Now we just need prayers for my wife as she struggles with where she wants to work, and what we can afford to do. For now here are a few rough pics of the church, I hope to get better ones, I had to take these ones incognito.

Well its obvious that I have not held up to my last post of getting back into a rhythm. There are a few very good reasons for this but I'm not able to say why just yet. I figured for anyone who still checks my blog I should drop a quick note to say that a full explanation is coming here in another few days so my recommendation would be to check back either this Sunday or Monday. If everything goes well I will be posting exactly what has been happening in my life then.

Well I can finally give an update. The last few weeks have been filled to the brim with work, I couldn't maintain my 1 post a week commitment. Not to mention I didn't want to keep talking about my job situation, but now I have a positive update in that direction. I was just hired on to PA Counseling Services, this means I will be working with children and youth on various issues in school and at home. I was told the primary group I will be working with are children with Autism. I am excited, scared, and happy all at the same time. I will need continued prayers as I embark on this new journey. Besides this my wife starts back to work next week and we are trying to figure out a babysitting routine for my daughter. We are making enough to just make our bills with about 15 dollars +/- to spare so paying for childcare is not a high option. That is also paying our bills without paying student loans which I will have to defer due to being dirt poor. Well anyway I hope to be b...

I haven't been able to post much over the last several weeks, this is a combination of several reasons primarily being that I've been working a lot at the printing plant, so I've been unable to to much reflection for blogging purposes. The other reason is because when I get a day off I spend it doing things with my family rather than on the computer. In the past several weeks I've had several other interviews at various church's and I still have another one this week. Hopefully soon I will be working with a church full time. This past Friday I went on long weekend, I came off of midnight shift and I am going back in today at 3 for work. So my wife and I took advantage of this and went to see the Harry Potter movie. It wasn't bad but there were a few details I wish they would have included. The graphics and the acting were far better than they used to be, in my opinion that is. Then on Sunday we took my daughter to the ocean for the first time. This soli...

My wife bought me this book for my birthday because she had heard some of the stories from it at the school she worked at. This book tells the story of Dean Karnazes (who is also the author) and how he came to run ultra marathons, an ultra marathon is a distance of 50 miles or more (the last story in this book is where Dean runs 199 miles). For those of you that don’t know a marathon is just over 26 miles long and was made to commemorate an event in ancient Greece. Dean’s story reminded me of a lot that I used to love about running. I also read this book thinking the entire time that this guy is crazy, and in some levels I’m right. I do recommend this book it is a fast read but good as long as you can get by how individualized the story is. Over all I give it a 3 out of 5 a comfortable middle ground

After talking with a friend I realized that my last post sounded a little mad. I guess I should throw in some context. I am dealing with why God called me to the ministry and I haven't been called to a place (and not for lack of trying). And I'm trying to see how all of my education fits into a place where the people don't care about the issues that I have grown to see as important. I have great faith in the UM and God's ability to work through the church. Yet in the context I'm in I am honestly struggling with what these people need to see about Christ and his work in their lives. I believe that John Wesley was able to do this and that is why the UM has potential. I hope I didn't offend anyone with my rant last week, but as I have always stated on this blog, I am on a journey and I have no problems talking about my raw emotions and things I feel, if anyone reads anything here and doesn't know how to take it...just talk to me and I will explain myself...