Fireproof

I just wanted to give you a quick update on things that have been going on spiritually in our lives of late. We left Oak Leaf Church, not because we didn't like the worship style, but for me personally, I felt like 1) I was getting pigeonholed into a service position that I wasn't comfortable with, and 2) that the pastor wasn't exactly being straightforward with some things happening in the church. This is not to say that he isn't the right person for that church, but I find it hard to follow a person who says that you should give up a vacation to give money to the church and then turns around and goes on one to Las Vegas within two weeks of stating this in front of the church...

I think that what was happening with that church is an overreaction to a financial situation that they did not plan accordingly for. That said, I still pray for that ministry and hope that it is extraordinarily successful. In the end, we ended up being just another face in the crowd, and weren't using our spiritual gifts to the extent that they should be used.

We have been going to Cedarcrest Church of late. It is an offshoot of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church, and it is much more controlled in terms of how the church is run, their beliefs (which are more transparent and concrete than a few other churches we have seen around Cartersville, not just Oak Leaf), and were more than willing to let us serve in a variety of ways. So far, we are already helping in Elevate. That is the children's material out of North Point Church (I think). (I saw that Sherwood Baptist down in Albany {the one that does the movies...see below} uses it on their Wednesday night services, too.) We had a field day today as well where families could play games together, and also where people could just congregate and get to know other people. The church is already running around 1000 people, but it still feels like a small church. This is the most difficult thing for a quickly-growing large church to do, and I think that they are accomplishing it so far.

We also have been attending a Community Group. It's pretty much a small group (same idea, different name). We were originally attracted to it because they were doing a study on marriage called "The Time Starved Marriage". Not that we really are time-starved, but we still wanted to do something on marriage. In any case, this group has been together for nearly two years, are already pretty well entrenched (but not hostile to 'outsiders'), and have formed strong bonds between one another. This said, we have fit in very well with one another already! It doesn't hurt that there is a good mix of people in there from all different walks of life, and it doesn't hurt that there are two other teachers in the group as well.

Tonight, we watched Fireproof in our Community Group. Man, what an awesome movie. It's sort of sad to realize that a lot of relationships could be saved with some simple communication, listening to one another's needs and wants (both emotionally, physically, and spiritually), and respecting one another. God's love to us was shown through sending Jesus, and it is most definitely symbolic in a marriage of how we are supposed to treat one another. As a man, I have to look and see what sort of man I am being towards my wife. Am I treating her the way that God wants me to treat her? Do I listen to her needs and wants? Sometimes, it can be very difficult to do the right thing, honestly. It takes a lot of work to make marriage work!

It is always easy to be in a marriage in the easy times, but of course of late, it's not been so easy. It seems like we've been poked and prodded every way that we can be...although I still haven't had to have an ultrasound of my 'boys', so you're still up on me, Nate. :D It has been tough on our marriage to lose a baby. We were so excited that we were already pregnant and then we lost the child. For about two weeks, our marriage was sort of in a funk, and it was mostly due to me. I didn't know how to react to Tasha in a way, and I didn't know how to deal with my emotions. I felt very close and very far away from God at the same time. I wanted to know why we couldn't be parents yet, but I fell heavily on his arms for strength at the same time. It took a lot of prayer to realize that God will give us a child in his due time, and that I have to be awfully patient and rely totally on Him. This all said, I know that our marriage is truly 'fireproof' from this experience.

I know that God gave me the ultimate mate in Tasha, and I thank Him for her every day. She filled a hole in my life that I had been searching for for so long, and I know that she was sent to me by God. I hope that my life and the way that I treat her is a reflection of God's love to us, and that we can be a shining example of how a marriage should work. I hope that it is also a reflection of how God can work in other people's relationships.

Ok, got to get to bed. I feel better now..:) More later! :D

What a year so far....

It's been more than crazy so far this year. I'm taking only three classes, but they seem to be the most reading-intensive classes that I've taken in a long time. One of the classes is called History of US Religion. In the five weeks that we've had class, we've already had three books to read, and we still have another three to finish. Thankfully enough, the other book reviews for this class are only two page papers, which isn't hard at all.

I have African-American History since Reconstruction. This should be an interesting class, but so far, no dice. It's mostly lecture. This is something I would expect out of a 2000 level history class, so I'm not exactly happy with it. I also haven't really learned much in that class because we're just sort of hitting the high points and not really discussing the reasons behind what was happening during the Gilded Age for blacks. In my previous African-American history classes, it has almost always been discussion-based classes which I prefer more than straight lecture.

The final class is my internship. What I am doing is researching the Cobb County NAACP chapter. They donated their materials that they had in their office to the Kennesaw State archives last February, and I've been working through what they donated. I also will be setting up interviews with people from Marietta and Cobb County to talk about their involvement in the NAACP and how life changed between 1945 and now. I've been reading a ton for that class as well, mostly oral histories. This coming weekend, Tasha and I are heading to the Georgia Association of Historians meeting in Dahlonega later today.
The other major thing that has been happening is that we've been trying to get pregnant. It's been more than trying, especially of late. So far, we've spent around $1200 out of pocket to doctors to figure out what is going on with Tasha and my bodies. We have one more procedure that is going to cost about $1500 that we aren't exactly sure how we are going to pay for right now, but I know that God will bless us.

Of course I am looking for a job right now, too. The job market in Atlanta is pretty bad to say the least. Also, most businesses who are looking for people are looking for either sales or for someone who is way more experienced than I am. I've been applying at different places, but so far, no real interest has been shown in me. On March 26th, there is another job fair on campus at Kennesaw State, this time for government and non-profit jobs. I feel way more confident in that than I have in a while about any job fairs.

Lent is here now, and I really am thinking that God is leading me to give up my job search (other than the job fair on the 26th) for Lent. I know that it's crazy because I would only have about a month before graduation, but I think that God wants me to do this so that I can focus on God more and rely on him more. Any thoughts?

Ok, got to go for now...more later...:D

It's been a while...

So, I just realized that I haven't updated since the beginning of the semester. I had my first paper due today, and I think that it went well. The internship is kicking my ever-loving hind end. I've been reading a TON, and I have to work more in the archives than I have been. It's very informative for me, but it's been hard. Anyway, got to get to bed, I'll write more tomorrow.

More later!

The beginning of the end...

So, here I finally am at the cusp of the final semester of my undergraduate degree, and of all things, I have mixed emotions. I am of course happy that in 16 weeks (1 off because of Spring Break), I will finally be ending a very long and winding path towards my degree. I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would have taken nearly a decade to finish, nor that I would have transferred schools two times since I left high school. Looking back, it's funny to think that I figured that I would end up in music, but now I am in history. I also thought that I would have graduated at about 22 and had been married at 23 or 24, but obviously, that didn't happen (and it's most definitely for the better!).

On the other hand, I'm also sort of scared out of my wits. I am quickly realizing that I have a LOT of work to accomplish by the end of this semester. I have an internship with Dr. Scott, my advising professor, and it will be great. I just hope that somehow a job may come out of it and I won't have to look too hard! (I know, wishful thinking..as Clark Howard puts it, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is...)

In any case, I know that it's going to be an exciting time for our family. It's going to be weird to have to wear that stupid hat for the first time in 9 years....:D

More later!

Goals for life

So, this was a challenge that our pastor did for himself and I stole the idea. Here are some of my goals for my life (some from short, some from long)

1) Go back down to between 200 and 205 (I've got at least 30 pounds to go)
2) Be debt free within the first year after I am employed full-time (other than the house and the land)
3) Get a doctoral degree
4) Go to at least one World Series game
5) Be married as long as I possibly can!
6) Be a good father for my children (whenever we have them)
7) Graduate from Kennesaw
8) Take Tasha to Europe
9) Work in the National Archives on a major project (yeah, I'm a history dork...)
10) Learn how to sew better than I already do

Chain emails

I got a chain email from someone from my church the other day, and I've been thinking about it for about three days. The email was about how all of these famous people said that they didn't need Jesus and they died in horrible ways. I think that people take the famous too seriously as it is already, so I don't need some deaths of these people to prove the power of God. Secondly, I am much more worried about the 2/3rds of people in Northwest Georgia who are unchurched and going to Hell, horrible death or not. The final thing that is peeving me about this email is that at the end of it, of course there was the prerequisite "send to X people and you'll receive a miracle in three days!" This is what probably got me most worked up. It makes people who are not necessarily strong in their faith yet depend on something other than God. It's like, "If I send this to eight people, God has to send me money!" The emphasis needs to be on prayer to God rather than the dependence of an outside source. (If we wanted that, we'd all still be Catholic, right?)

Anyway, had to get that out of my head...more later.

Grades

Don't you have it when you have to wait for something? I don't mean Christmas this time. I took my two finals this week on Monday and Wednesday. Usually, it takes my professors about a day to put my grades in for posting. This semester, though, it took until sometime this afternoon! I was on pins and needles waiting for my grades, especially for my American Philosophy class since it is so paramount to my graduating in May (it's one of the main requirements for American History majors). I didn't really doubt that I would make anything below a B in my other class, African-American Music, but I ended up with an A! With American Philosophy, I constantly received Cs or Ds on pretty much everything save one paper. I ended up getting a B in the class. I still am not sure how I didn't pull a C, but I'm not complaining!

Another thing that happened is that I worked all three graduation ceremonies this year. Since I'm working in Events right now, I get the joy of working any of these major events until May. Amazingly enough, things went off without a hitch (other than the marshal almost forgetting the mace for the first ceremony!). Nothing like working 15 hours in two days (being that one was a 10 hour day, and we didn't get home until 9:30.

Tonight Tasha and I are going back down to Kennesaw to go to the Development Christmas party...I'm looking forward to this weekend so I can relax a bit.

More later! :D