I have a story to tell you. I promise it’s all true. This is one of those rare moments in my life when I wish I was on a reality TV show. It would have been awesome to have captured all this for future viewing.
Life
Blog posts chronicling my continuing adventures. Sometimes I like to write about what’s going on in my life.
I write this to you from the Orlando airport, where my long layover has just turned into an even longer layover thanks to a half hour delay. I arrived here from Tallahassee at about 3:30 this afternoon. I won’t be taking off from Orlando until 7:55, assuming their current estimate is any good. And I’m not even flying into Hartford. It was cheaper to go through Boston. So when my next flight touches down I’ve still got a long drive home ahead of me. It’ll be well after midnight before I get to bed tonight.
So here’s the long overdue recap of my fund raising trip down to North Palm Beach and Lakeland last month, as well as some of the events since then. I know it’s been over a month since I’ve last blogged. The week after that trip was an emotional roller coaster. I felt depressed, jealous and bitter a good bit of the week, and when I get that way I don’t do a lot of things I enjoy, hence my lack of blogging despite having more than my fair share of time on my hands. Since the end of that week, as you’ll infer, I’ve been very busy and haven’t had any time on my hands, hence my lack of blogging.
I left for North Palm later than I hoped on the morning of Thursday, August 16. I was going there to make a final fund raising trip to raise support for my ministry with the Navigators at FSU. When I left I was at 40% of my funding goal and couldn’t start working until I hit at least 75%. It’s a six hour drive down, not nearly as long as I remembered it being. When I left I really didn’t know why I was going. A part of me felt like it was going to be just like my Connecticut trip all over again. When I left for that trip I didn’t have too many face-to-face fund raising appointments made before arriving and I ended up not having many during the trip. The same could be said for this trip (though, once again, not for lack of trying). Many people were out of town or otherwise unavailable. Many I just hadn’t managed to talk to; I could only get their message machines. But I had a lot of peace about making the trip. I’ve learned to trust that feeling of peace a lot more in recent months. There’s something to it.
This morning I will be driving from Tallahassee to North Palm Beach for the weekend. I am making the trip in the hopes of being able to sit down with a few people I used to know well and tell them about my ministry. This is really the last place I have to travel to that I haven’t already been that has a fair number of people who may be interested in supporting me. Already, however, I’ve had my fair share of troubles.
Last night at around 10 PM I got back to Tallahassee after a ten hour travel day. I had been in Connecticut since last Wednesday night to see my family, to visit friends and to fund raise for my ministry with the Navigators. Now I’m back at work and have nearly nothing to do (a tremendous blessing, I assure you). I’m trying to process and digest all that went on during my whirlwind trip. It had its share of highs and lows, not to mention unexpected happenings. I’m trying to decide if it was a success or not. Maybe I’ll let you decide.
I’ve been raising financial support for my upcoming ministry with the Navigators for about six weeks now. This is, without a doubt, one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done. When I was at fund raising training in early June I really didn’t think it was going to be this hard. In fact, when it comes to making the calls and the presentations I really don’t find fund raising to be much of a challenge. Most people have been eager to hear about what I’m doing. But there are far more subtle things that have been fighting for my spirit.
It’s my policy not to blog about what goes on where I work since I know it has the potential to do more harm than good. But in this case I’ll make an exception. I’m still going to be vague though.
Over the past six business days two people I work with have left the department. One of them was my boss. Both of them were men, the only other men besides me in the SHINE program. I liked both of them and I’m sad to see them go. My program only has eleven people in it normally, and we were already down one person, so the loss of two more is a big deal.
I have to admit that I’m a little worried now. My boss was the main reason why I was able to stay on with the department in a part-time capacity starting this August. With him gone and someone else taking his place, presumably from the outside, that arrangement might not still be available. Please be praying that I’ll be able to keep my job at the Florida Department of Elder Affairs in spite of all these changes going on.
To my family and friends,
It’s a pleasure to have the opportunity to write to you all again. It doesn’t seem like a year has passed since I wrote to you about graduating from FSU. Now, one year later, allow me to recap the past year and share a little about what I plan to do in the near future.
Since last August I have been working at the Florida Department of Elder Affairs doing data entry. It’s by no means glamorous but it is another example of God’s provision in my life. But it’s now time to make a change. Starting this August I will be cutting back to a part-time job at Elder Affairs and will begin a part-time job with the Navigators, a collegiate ministry at Florida State University. This is the same ministry that I was involved with as a student for four years and as a volunteer leader this past year. Some of you may remember that back in the spring of ’06 I wrestled with the idea of joining Navigators staff in a full-time capacity. This was once again an option but this time it became clear to me that, while it was the right time to make a change, leaving the workforce entirely was not the right move to make.
