Blog

Bumper crop

I took someone for a ride today. His name was John. I was shooting baskets in what my wife would have of called a bad side of town. He came up to me wanting a ride. As I got my basketball out I saw a bullet from a gun near to where I would shoot hoops.
I was a bit scared when he approached me. John had a scrawny beard and was at least as tall as me. As I drove him to work I shared my testimony about how God sent me to Erie. It only seemed fitting as he slid next to my Eugene Peterson copy of the message.
It was a story of what I left behind in the world of Erie which was filled with unknowns. I did not know any one but my wife. She was from Erie. She was having a really awful time in Kc and it was the right thing to do, which did not mean I did not have doubts. The one thing I knew no one certainly not God owed me anything. I was for one of the only times of my life thinking of someone besides me.
Here is this guy of a different color who could have blown my head off. And would it have mattered?
I went on to share with him how I met Sharon. She had been widowed after being married to a Baptist minister. They were only married one year. She truly loved him. I thought to myself it was the right thing for me to marry her. After all I was also a Baptist minister.
We came to Erie and I recounted the struggles. Sharon admits to having dementia. I have been constantly on the lookout for jobs since I got to Erie. The company that promised me a job reneged on it's promise. I was forced to take on temp work doing jobs that required me to lift a lot of weight in hot weather.
In the course of my labors I was looking for a church to attend and soon enough I ran into an American Baptist Church that was no more than ten minutes from where I lived. It happened to be the church that her deceased husband Michael attended. I was welcomed very warmly by the pastor and his wife who just happened to be there on a week day. I would find out they were American Baptists and I was as it turns out an ordained American Baptist pastor.
I took as a sign from God. I recently have become a member there. I continued to struggle mightily to find employment. I found a job doing caregiving with an agency. I enjoyed the work and persons I attended were liking me. Then after six weeks I was terminated. A co-worker had been fired for living with one of my clients and he was determined to have me fired with him. I had stayed overnight a few times at the client's invitation and was terminated. What a sad state of affairs. In a little less than 6 months in Kansas city I made close to 20,000 dollars. In four months in Erie I barely made four thousand dollars. And some of that work was literally back breaking.
I was haunted by voices that said do not leave. I left behind my three children and four grandchildren. I had been in the kc area for over thirty years and would leave behind many friends.
I walked into a temporary agency office the beginning of October and was almost immediately offered a job doing something I had wanted to do. I had NOTHING to prove. I believe it is of God even not knowing what is ahead.
I have been there close to a month. The job site is no more than a mile from my house. To put this in perspective, I once drove 700 miles in one week for the first caregiving agency, making ten dollars an hour. I had been that desperate to have a steady job.
My present job pays more than I ever made in kc. I am a team leader. Previously known more as a loner I revel in taking on a new way of being.
I still do not know what to expect in days ahead. God is showing me that I am not in this struggle alone. Maybe this man John could have killed me. That is not the point. I am glad to be alive and I am glad who I live for and guess what? That is all that really matters!!!!😉