New Job

I guess I am just a facebook junkie. For those of you who follow me here and not there, my apologies.

I have been hired by a hospice inpatient unit here in Wilmington as their Spiritual Care Coordinator. I will also put in a few hours a week with another unit just across the line in PA doing spiritual care and bereavement. Between the two units I will have enough hours to be classified as full time.

God has certainly blessed me and provided for me since September when my residency ended. Please join with me in praising and thanking God for that. Also join me in praying for God to give patience to those who are still waiting for their answers.

Blizzard of 2009

Well, it is not necessarily like the blizzards we had in Wyoming, but close. In Delaware we had a major storm dropping 17 inches here in Wilmington. The pictures below are from my balcony about half way through the snowfall. It is beautiful but treacherous. I took off for work in the throes of the blizzard yesterday morning and it took me an hour and 45 minutes to get there when it usually takes me about 40 minutes. At 1:00 DelDOT announced that it would declare a state of emergency effective at 3:00, so my boss let me go ahead and go home. It took 3 hours to get home. The traffic on the highway was about 15-20 mph and about every 20 minutes or so the whole line of traffic stopped and everyone got out and cleared the ice from the windshield wipers.

Merry Christmas to all, and if you have a white Christmas I hope and pray that it is a safe one.

Working it out

After two months of basically sitting on the couch waiting for the phone to ring, I have noticed that suddenly my pants have shrunk - or my rear has spread, whichever you want to believe. Anyway, there is a gym close to where I live, and I joined it and took on a trainer to get myself back into shape. My goal is to strengthen my core for balance and to improve my stamina. A little strength training coupled with some cardio work should help both my shape and my outlook on life. I worked out yesterday. The trainer suggested that the muscles have memory, so I should see results quicker than I suspect, but the results of trying to get out of bed this morning prove that my own memory of certain muscles is missing.

I was doing squats against a wall with a big ball and standing on a rubber half-ball, and the muscles just above my knee-caps are muscles I forgot I had. I was doing a lunge and lift with a medicine ball, and those obliques are also muscles I forgot about. Somehow I remembered my glutes and stomach muscles, but that doesn't make them hurt any less.

I will be going back in today, and I know that hitting the gym again will work some of this soreness out. I just need to be able to stick with it. The trainers at this gym are awesome.

Good news - FINALLY!!!!

I just returned from Dover. CompUSA is opening a new store there on the Friday after Thanksgiving and I will be one of their Sales Associates. It's not ministry, but it is a job and will help tide me over. I am due to be ordained next fall, and after that I will have a better shot at the ministry positions I have been looking at.

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers.

On the job front

I am still looking for a job, but some things have looked up. One thing is that the holiday seasonal shopping is about to kick in, so stores are hiring seasonal help. That can get me through the first of the year. A computer store in Dover is opening on the day after Thanksgiving, and my first interview with them went well. I will probably have a second interview early next week. It is a permanent position (not seasonal) and I look at it this way - I can utilize my existing computer skills and have a job to take me through ordination. Once I am ordained, many more doors will open, so we'll just have to see how much patience God is asking me to have.

I Love Fall

I have just discovered how much I love the fall. This picture is a little shaky because it was taken during the dark, but it is a beautiful reminder of God's renewal each morning, even in the face of transition. There is a thicket of trees behind my apartment which gives me a beautiful sunrise each morning, so I decided that I needed to share.



When I lived in Wyoming, a tree was pretty much a big sagebrush, so we didn't get to see the transition of color like happens here in Delaware and all up and down the Atlantic coast. Texas had mostly evergreen trees and what trees that lost their leaves, well the fall happened so fast that if you blinked your eyes you missed it. Kansas was somewhat better, but there was still the long spaces of farmland void of trees.

The following pictures were taken in Maryland where our church had its retreat a couple of weeks ago. The colors there were just spectacular, as you can see from these pictures. I drove to Havre de Grace, Maryland yesterday and about half way there kicked myself for not bringing my camera. God's has a beautiful color scheme for the transition from summer to winter.

Still no news

There is still no news on the job front. I am still waiting to hear from people where I have applied.

On a lighter note, our church retreat is this weekend. It will be a nice weekend away in Maryland. I am looking forward to spending the weekend with a bunch of friends that I am finally getting to know well.

Nice Fall Recipe

I made some wonderful apple butter last week and had a couple of Granny Smith's left over. A friend of mine remarked how she liked "fried" apples, and I decided this afternoon that it sounded wonderful. I took a "secret ingredient" from my apple butter and made this wonderful caramel tasting dish. It is wonderful served over ice cream or just eaten like it is. Here is how I made it. I just used one apple, so I am increasing it to two or three - depending on the size of the apple. It would also be good if you wanted to add 1 tsp of vanilla. I didn't do that, so I am just including what I used.

Fried Caramel Apples

Melt 1/2 stick butter in a saute pan. Add 2-3 Granny Smith apples, cored, peeled and sliced. Add 1 tsp of cinnamon and 1 tblsp lemon or lime juice. Cook for 5-10 minutes over medium heat until apples are crisp tender (time will vary depending on how thick the slices are). Note: Do not cook them until they are completely tender, because they will continue to cook after removed from heat. Add 1/2 c sugar and stir until all is absorbed. Add 1/2 c pomegranate juice (can use orange juice if you prefer). Stir and cook until it begins to thicken. Remove from heat and transfer to serving dish. Warning: This will be VERY hot. Allow to sit at room temperature 5-10 minutes until cool enough. Test by dipping a spoon into the mixture and then gently touching it with your finger. Serve over ice cream with whipped cream or just eat as a sweet side dish.

Angel's Blessing

Today we had a blessing of the animals at our church. Here are some pictures of Angel at the service.

Pastor David "blessing" Angel.



Pastor David geting all excited about creation.

My friend Kitty and her daughter EJ. EJ is very curious of this little doggie that is smaller than most of her stuffed animals.

Kitty and Angel made fast friends.

Monster Mash

This is what happens when you have too much time on your hands:

Monster Mash <--- Click here

No news.... Yet

Waiting is not one of my gifts. Neither is patience. I am finding that I am getting a lot of practice at the first and it is trying the second. I find myself waiting on a call that may or may not ever come, and in the meantime I keep scouring the job boards for new postings. Neither of these "jobs" is fun. It's been told that looking for work is a full time job, and you can believe that. I spend most of the day looking through postings and applying for things. Prayers for patience....

Where can I go?

I went to the beach yesterday. Since I have the type of skin that burns in 15 minutes or less when exposed to the sun, and in an hour or so when slathered with sunscreen, I covered up. It was a bit chilly, so wearing jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt was not particularly unconventional. I also wore a big floppy hat. Several times we rolled up the pant legs and wandered out to wade in the surf. The water was pretty cold, and I wondered how the people could be swimming in the surf.

Just like it always does, even though I was covered up, the sun was able to find my skin. I had a vest on over my t-shirt because I have been burned through shirts before. I sat with my back to the sun to shade any of the rest of me that might be exposed, but the tops of my feet got burned anyway.

It reminds me of Psalm 139, which asks the question "where can I go to hide from you, God?" It assures us that even if we descend to the depths of hell, God is there with us. Just like the sun that can find my skin even when I try to shade it and cover it, God can find us no matter how many lengths we go to to hide, no matter if we have turned our backs, and no matter what we have done. Unlike the sun that burns my skin, though, God is there to provide the salve to soothe whatever hurts us.

Thank you God, for always being there for me.

Off to the beach

Well, It's been a crazy week. I'm still waiting for a job offer. My friend Maranda and I are going to the beach today, so it will really be good to get out for a while.

Give Thanks

I am sitting here, on my last day. It is 7 am and I am waiting on the residents to show up so that I can orient them and then be on my way to what lies ahead for me for the rest of my life.

As I ponder here this morning, I give thanks. I give thanks for this past year that was a year of learning and a year of healing. I learned what it takes to be a better pastor. I have healed from the wounds inflicted on me by loved ones and by a church that turned its back on me when I needed it the most. I give thanks for all my new friends and I give thanks for a new church and a new denomination that has embraced me, even knowing that I was wounded.

I give thanks for my little dog Angel. In the three years since she has come to live with me, she has lived in three different places. I give thanks for her unconditional love and adaptability. All she cares about is that her "Mommy" comes home and is always there for her. There is a reason why dog spelled backwards is God.

I give thanks to my Creator God for all the blessings in my life, even as I look to an uncertain future. Since I was three years old, I have always known that God would take care of me, and God always has in ways that were too wonderful to even imagine. As I look to the uncertain future, I give thanks for God's next assignment, which I know will come in due time. All I ask of God at this time, is the same request as always - that when God tells me what it is my ears are open wide enough to hear and embrace the message.

Thank you, God, for all the blessings past and the blessings yet to come. Amen.

So close - yet so far

Today I got news from a place I was expecting to get a job offer that they want to hire me but I will have to wait another week or two before the position gets approved. Good news yet bad news. Today was my last day at the hospital. I am working the on-call tonight and after I turn things over in the morning to the new residents, my residency will be over. All I do now is hope and pray. I do have a couple of other "feelers" out, but nothing else as solid as this one.

I'm still here

I've noticed that it has been a week since I have posted. Today starts my last week at work, and then I am unemployed (for the time being anyway.) I have one real promising prospect out there, but am concerned about the "gap." We shall see. I am certain that something will pop soon enough.

What a day

I had a chance to do pulpit supply today in Baltimore. It was a small church right next to Camden Yards. Too bad I didn't really get to see the stadium, but I had a great time. It was a small church and the message seemed connect with the congregation. Then there were some ladies that took me out to lunch and fed me way too much, but it was a great time. I got back home about 3:00 and spent the afternoon napping on and off. Lots to do tomorrow - last day of my 4-day weekend.

Another Interview

I had another interview today, and it was very promising. Keep praying folks. I will hopefully know something in a week or two.

A wonderful day

Today I spent the day with Lonna in Havre de Grace, Md. It is always an uplifting experience when I see her, but today was pretty special. She fed me fresh peaches, and then when a pastor called for pulpit supply, she passed it over to me. I will be preaching in Baltimore on the 30th. We talked about job opportunities and we got in touch with some of the powers to be at the association. Things are really looking up. I am getting excited. I got home and got another interview that is set up for the 28th. God is working. I know it. When that right thing happens, I will know it.

Thank you Lonna

Yesterday I was really bummed out. I was on call to the ER for the first part of the day, and that was very busy so it kept me occupied. I put a call out to Lonna, and late in the afternoon she got back to me. I suggested to her that my failure to really land that "right" interview could be that I am looking in all the wrong places. She is working with the church boards that might be able to find me something back in a church. It is an opportunity that I originally shied away from because I was sure that going back into a church was not in my "genes," but it was also something that her and I came up with together about a month ago. Many things have happened, and I think that this may be what will come together.

Dear God, give me the wisdom to know what it is that you have planned for me. Amen.