Well, as most everyone knows, the housing industry has taken a major hit this year. As a mortgage originator, I've definitely felt the crunch...and so has my bank account. As of June I started working other jobs besides mortgages to try and make ends meet. Here are some of the odd-jobs and positions I've filled temporarily just since June...
Manager of an apartment complex
Mainenance guy for a rental management company
Landscaping and lawn care
Cutting and selling firewood
Construction
Metal fabrication/machine shop
So, I've gained a lot of experience and knowledge in a very short amount of time. I counted it all up today and realized that I'm turning into one of those guys that has pretty much been there and done it all as far as jobs go. Hopefully in the near future something steady and solid will land and I can take a break from all the hat-switching for a while.
As stressful as it has been, I'm thankful. Each position and job has given me new skills, provided income for my family during this season of financial drought, and given me something new to praise God for. It hasn't all been fun or easy, and it has most definitely frustrated me more times than I care to recall, but a while back I got a word from God that has helped get me through...
Diamonds are created be enormous amounts of heat and pressure, and when we come through this, we are going to sparkle and shine... That speaks two main things to me. The first and most hope-inspiring - - There will be an end. I won't have to struggle and scrape like this forever. Secondly, God's doing something in me that is going to leave an everlasting mark. I'm going to be uncommon, full of value and worth. God is shaping me, molding me, firing and crushing me because he has something huge in store for my life and for the ministry of my wife and myself.
The bible tells us that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Basically, the seed of faith gets planted by God's word, whether that be through the bible or through a sermon or a specific prophetic word or whatever. Faith moves mountains and changes things. I cannot tell you the vast amounts of faith and hope that the simple statement above has given to my wife and I through this time of trial. No matter how dark the day or how lousy I feel or how much I wallow in doubt and despair, deeper than deep down, I know that God is going to bring us through to the other side and cause us to be vessels of uncommon value and worth.
I think I wrote all this more for me than for anyone else, but I hope it blesses someone who reads it.
Cheers, and God bless!
Hoss
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
First Reaction...Bad News
Early Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, "They have taken the Lord's body out of the tomb, and I don't know where they have put him!" -- John 20 (NLT)
As I was getting ready for bed, I grabbed my bible and flipped it open. It landed on John 20 and God dropped a really interesting thought on me. Here we find a distraught Mary Magdalene reacting to a situation and delivering bad news to two of the disciples. Her first reaction to seeing the stone rolled away was bad news.
We as humans have a terrible tendency to imagine the worst when we are faced with a situation. Mark Twain might have put it best when he said "I've dealt with many crisis in my life, but few of them will ever happen." Our imaginations can run away with our emotions and cause us to lose hope and faith. Sometimes, what appears to be a dire situation is actually the beginning of a miracle much larger than we could ever imagine. Next time you are faced with difficulty or on the surface it appears that the situation has turned very ugly, stop and pray and ask God to show you what you are missing. You just might see that your dark situation or storm is actually the hand of God moving situations or moving you to a place of blessing.
Cheers and God bless!
Hoss
As I was getting ready for bed, I grabbed my bible and flipped it open. It landed on John 20 and God dropped a really interesting thought on me. Here we find a distraught Mary Magdalene reacting to a situation and delivering bad news to two of the disciples. Her first reaction to seeing the stone rolled away was bad news.
Now although the scripture doesn't mention this fact, we know that Mary didn't immediately remember Christs words about resurrection. She didn't remember the prophecies of the Messiah being crucified and rising again. She saw the situation and immediately thought the worst..."Someone stole his body!" She was so wrapped up in what she believed to be the worst-case scenario that she didn't even see the fact that she was the first to uncover the absolute greatest miracle ever.
We as humans have a terrible tendency to imagine the worst when we are faced with a situation. Mark Twain might have put it best when he said "I've dealt with many crisis in my life, but few of them will ever happen." Our imaginations can run away with our emotions and cause us to lose hope and faith. Sometimes, what appears to be a dire situation is actually the beginning of a miracle much larger than we could ever imagine. Next time you are faced with difficulty or on the surface it appears that the situation has turned very ugly, stop and pray and ask God to show you what you are missing. You just might see that your dark situation or storm is actually the hand of God moving situations or moving you to a place of blessing.
Cheers and God bless!
Hoss
Monday, September 1, 2008
God Can Use Flawed People
According to the FreshFire.ca website, home of Fresh Fire Ministries of Todd Bentley and Florida Healing Outpouring fame, Todd Bentley and his wife are seperated and Todd has stepped down from the board of the ministry he started due to entering into an unhealthy relationship with a female staff member.
Now what really sucks about this is that Todd's marital and personal problems are going to further the controversy of the Lakeland revival. Any time you have a move of God, you have a move of flesh. For every genuine move of the Holy Spirit, you will inevitably have people acting out of emotionalism or a desire for attention. However, that doesn't discredit or disprove the touch of God. Through personal experience, my wife and I were genuinely blessed by the Holy Spirit and ministered to through watching the revival on GodTV.
It's really sad, yet amazing and a beautiful insight into God's grace. As the God of the universe, omnipotent and omniscient, God knew that Todd would make mistakes and, whether he cheated sexually or not, damage his relationship with his wife. Yet God used Todd anyways to deliver revival and healing to hundreds of thousands if not millions of people all over the globe.
Due to Todd's mistakes, there will be thousands of Christians that point the finger of judgement and say "Ha! I knew he was a fake! I knew the revival was a false move!" To those people, I say the following. I am only one guy and can only speak from my own experience, but God used Todd Bentley and his ministry in a great way. And though Todd has fallen, we shouldn't lump God and Todd into the same category. If anything, this shows us that EVERYONE, regardless of fame, religious prominence or projected holiness, desperately needs God's grace and forgiveness.
This is another reason why we should worship God and not a man. How many of us make mistakes on a daily basis? Most of us are blessed with relative anonymity when compared to a preacher in front of a camera being broadcast to over 100 nations. When in the spotlight you are under a microscope...a bug in a jar. Every mistake you make gets amplified and magnified and people expect nothing short of Christ-like perfection. As we all know, those expecations are not realistic and when they aren't met, as humans we feel hurt and let down and so we lash out in our religious zeal. We need to keep in mind that whole moat-beam in the eye thing...
I hope I do not sound like I'm condoning or excusing indecent or possibly cheating behavior or that I'm excusing Bentley's bad behavior in whatever form it occured. I'm simply saying that people should not discredit God's moving simply because of human error.
On a totally different note, today I saw a video of Louie Giglio speaking about the vastness of the universe, the massive size of several stars in comparison to the earth, and the amazingness of the human body. God is so much bigger than we can fathom, and though we are so insignificant in comparison to the massiveness of the ever expanding universe, God loves us and we are ever in the palm of his hand. Do some YouTube searching and check it out. It will absolutely wreck you and bring you to a whole new level of admiration and wonder for this amazing God we serve who breathes out stars and hangs this world on nothing. His signature is everywhere and it is truly indescribable.
Now what really sucks about this is that Todd's marital and personal problems are going to further the controversy of the Lakeland revival. Any time you have a move of God, you have a move of flesh. For every genuine move of the Holy Spirit, you will inevitably have people acting out of emotionalism or a desire for attention. However, that doesn't discredit or disprove the touch of God. Through personal experience, my wife and I were genuinely blessed by the Holy Spirit and ministered to through watching the revival on GodTV.
It's really sad, yet amazing and a beautiful insight into God's grace. As the God of the universe, omnipotent and omniscient, God knew that Todd would make mistakes and, whether he cheated sexually or not, damage his relationship with his wife. Yet God used Todd anyways to deliver revival and healing to hundreds of thousands if not millions of people all over the globe.
Due to Todd's mistakes, there will be thousands of Christians that point the finger of judgement and say "Ha! I knew he was a fake! I knew the revival was a false move!" To those people, I say the following. I am only one guy and can only speak from my own experience, but God used Todd Bentley and his ministry in a great way. And though Todd has fallen, we shouldn't lump God and Todd into the same category. If anything, this shows us that EVERYONE, regardless of fame, religious prominence or projected holiness, desperately needs God's grace and forgiveness.
This is another reason why we should worship God and not a man. How many of us make mistakes on a daily basis? Most of us are blessed with relative anonymity when compared to a preacher in front of a camera being broadcast to over 100 nations. When in the spotlight you are under a microscope...a bug in a jar. Every mistake you make gets amplified and magnified and people expect nothing short of Christ-like perfection. As we all know, those expecations are not realistic and when they aren't met, as humans we feel hurt and let down and so we lash out in our religious zeal. We need to keep in mind that whole moat-beam in the eye thing...
I hope I do not sound like I'm condoning or excusing indecent or possibly cheating behavior or that I'm excusing Bentley's bad behavior in whatever form it occured. I'm simply saying that people should not discredit God's moving simply because of human error.
On a totally different note, today I saw a video of Louie Giglio speaking about the vastness of the universe, the massive size of several stars in comparison to the earth, and the amazingness of the human body. God is so much bigger than we can fathom, and though we are so insignificant in comparison to the massiveness of the ever expanding universe, God loves us and we are ever in the palm of his hand. Do some YouTube searching and check it out. It will absolutely wreck you and bring you to a whole new level of admiration and wonder for this amazing God we serve who breathes out stars and hangs this world on nothing. His signature is everywhere and it is truly indescribable.
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