Balancing Ministry N' Work

As I am sitting here in a hotel room in Spencer, IA setting things in motion for our impending move, I have been reflecting on this year. Exactly 4 months ago, on May 26th I went had brain surgery. If you have not read my thoughts on that time, you can go back and read my previous posts about it. Today it is hard to believe that I went through that such a short time ago. The scar is hardly visable, and most people I interact with have no idea it is there. The left side of my head aches pretty consistently, but it is so mild that I do not even notice it most of the time. The more tired I am the more I notice it. I have regained most of my strength and endurance, but tend to get tired now and again. Some days I take a 10-15 minute nap when I get home from work, and I have found preaching takes a lot out of me. I am getting used to the hearing loss in my left ear, but do struggle hearing in noisy environments. The most annoying thing is that I have a continuous ringing in my left ear. Thi...

For those who do not know, I have accepted a promotion and we will be moving to Spencer, IA! The position is the same as I have been doing in Jackson, MI but on a bigger scale. The sales for the factory in Spencer is 6 times more than in Jackson, and there are 4 times more people. My department will grow from 11 people to 18, plus two onsite suppliers that I will manage. It is a great opportunity for career growth. The last couple of weeks have been interesting! I have interviewed at 3 different factories and received 2 different offers. The positions offered and locations were both very different, eventhough they had the same title. The first offer came from Eden Prairie, MN which is Money Magazines #1 place to live in 2010. Spencer is a small town of 11K people surrounded by corn farms. Both positions were great opportunities, I believe that the Spencer position will be more challenging and offer some unique development opportunities. We are in the process of preparing our house for ...

This week I was given the honor of preaching! It has been roughly 2 months since I had to resign from New Life Chapel, and I have been missing sharing God's Words. It was exciting and moving! I felt God using me this last Sunday and believe that the message about 'Remembering Who Jesus Is' touched members in the congregation. I was blessed by their openness to us and the love they showed our family. Our kids really enjoyed thier time there. With all of the good, I need to remember the impact it had on me. After church I was blessed and excited, I was on a Spiritual High! A couple of hours later I crashed. My energy left and I felt very tired for the rest of the day. I am very thankful that today is Labor Day and I was able to sleep in. Having the couple of extra hours of sleep will have a big impact on how I feel today and this week. As much as I loved being used by God this week, I have to admit that my body is still not ready to do it all the time. After all it has only b...

The last couple of weeks have been real busy for me. Work has kept me hopping! We had an evaluation to see how well we followed company policies and had great results! I traveled to Iowa and Minnesota for a quick 3 day trip, and am about to head out on another quick 2 day trip that will take me to 3 states. Another exciting thing is that a local church has asked me to provide pulpit supply (fill in preacher) this weekend. It has been a couple of months since I have been blessed to share God's Words and I have been missing it. Really looking forward to being God's conduit on Sunday. Alexis has started the kids on the new homeschool program this week, which has kept all of them busy. They are excited and seem to be enjoying it so far. Pretty cool! With all of this going on I seem to forget that it has only been 3 months since my surgery. I feel pretty good most of the time but occasionally have bouts of fatigue. Nothing major but reminds me that I need to slow down sometimes. Bes...