Making Good Choices / Great Opporunities

Uh oh, I'm starting this blog and it's 1:40 a.m.  This is not good, but I am inspired. I was reading my friend Ramon's blog and something clicked with me.  Yes, I have really been struggling with some stuff lately and yes I have been weak.  God has protected my heart through it all, but has also challenged me to decide. Will I choose him, or will I choose the world?

I was confronted with something the other day that I was absolutely not expecting. I was given the rare opportunity to have exactly what I wanted. In a humanistic way, it made all the sense in the world. My financial needs would be met and I would have things that I haven't been able to get for myself for a while now. Life would be so easy...

The reality of the situation was that it would have been a HUGE compromise of my faith, convictions and everything I have worked for these past 20 years. It would have necessitated me throwing all that away. I have to be honest, I was severely tempted to do it.  Because of the grace of God, he helped me to realize what that would mean for my life. Life may have been easier, but I know for a fact I would not have been more happy, in fact, it would have been just the opposite.

Satan really likes to wrap things up in nice packages, make it look really pretty and even desirable.  He lures us in to make us believe these things will make us happy and that they will fulfill us.  But its all lies.  It was a dead end street that would have just been a road of loneliness and emptiness and I would have literally been left with nothing. N-O-T-H-I-N-G!

It has made me think a lot lately about my heart.  My heart for God and my heart to do the right thing, no matter the cost.  Not that I feel I have given that much, because everything I have/had was God's to begin with. So I have a cleansing of my heart for a few months, so what?  Okay, it's really hard.  That's good.  I remember one of the preachers in our Seattle Church, Jay, once said "Make it harder!" and he was serious. I want my faith to be tested to see if I can stand it.  I don't want pain. I'm not a masochist, but I do want my heart to be right before God.  THAT is by far the most important thing for any of us to decide. Period.

At our devotional tonight, we heard a short sermon on what we strive for. As Americans (and now in Germany I see it as well), there is a constant chasing after stuff.  The newest gadget, electronic device, the biggest TV, boat, cars, homes, summer homes, etc. These things take our focus off what's really important, our relationships with God and others.  The more I can nurture relationships, the happier I'll be.  The more I work on my house, cars, mow my lawn, do my list of projects, the further I get from the things that God wants me to invest in: Him and in others.  I don't know why we as Christians miss this point.  Oh yeah, the Joneses....

Are you keeping up with the Joneses?  Do you do the things you do because they are accepted or even expected in society?  Do we REALLY live our lives for God or are we building a life of comfort for ourselves?  Do we comfort us, or do we comfort others?  These are all things that I have had to take stock of in my life.  I've dealt with these things and I'm so much happier now. I encourage you to write down your list of projects and estimate how long those things will take to accomplish.  Imagine the impact you could have on another human being in that time it takes to finish off your list.  Who are we kidding, that list never ends, it's a trap and we never end up really being free.

*************************

So, this is my Blitzkrieg week.  I'm hitting the streets in one last blaze of glory to find that elusive job in Berlin.  I feel so much better than I did even yesterday... Thanks God for your peace, and thanks to everyone for your prayers, good vibes and thoughts.  I went down to the Kurfürstendamm today to put my name and face out there to companies.  I went to fast food restaurants, hotels, souvenir shops, even to the Hard Rock Cafe!!!  Had some encouraging conversations today.

Some really cool stuff happened at the Hard Rock.  I don't know that I will ever be able to work there, but it was cool anyway.  First off, I was sitting outside and suddenly an American police car showed up (huh???) and two guys dressed up as the Blues Brothers were having a photo shoot in front of the Cafe.  I was not too far behind the police cruiser, so if anyone sees pics of this let me know, I'm in a blue suit.

I went inside and had to give my application to a lady in the upstairs part of the restaurant. At the bottom of the stairs, was this car that looked really familiar to me, but couldn't quite place it. Then I saw a sign that said this was the car pictured on the album cover of U2's Achtung Baby album from 1991!!!! What? Are you kidding me????  I was so excited because I love U2 (who doesn't?) and it's a Trabi!!  That kind of made my day.

Unfortunately I was looking for work while it was raining pretty hard.  What is it about that stretch of the Ku'Damm, me, and rain?  Oh well, I had some great conversations and the Hard Rock was hard to beat.

Otherwise, I'm still working through a lot of emotions and craziness at the moment.  Things are getting better, but please pray for me because I think I might be able to find something this weekend.  Thanks to Anka, I have tickets to a multi-lingual job fair this Saturday. It will unfortunately cause me to miss our first official Singles fun outing, but I'm ÜBER excited about this job fair.  There are going to be some really big companies there and putting my face and resume (and just plain crazy me) out there for these employers to see is such a huge opportunity, I can't underscore how great this could be.  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE pray for me Friday/Saturday to make some really great connections there so that I can finally get that elusive job.  This is really my last chance, but it is a great opportunity.

Well, that's it for now, I finished in less than 30 tonight.  Please stay in touch with me.  Thank you Adam for your message and yes, I would love to talk to you sometime.  Good night all, hoping to give good news very soon! With our prayers, it will happen!