So now we all know how easy it has been adjusting to the Northwest, and when I say easy I mean the hardest thing ever. I know my blog posts have been lagging and there’s no excuse for that, other than that the rain has kept me from thinking about anything. It’s sad to say, but I can understand why so many Washingtonians would want to end their lives. It’s a bad atmosphere. It will only get worse from here on out, as far as the weather goes. We’ve definitely hit the Winter season in WA. I laughed at how dark it was this morning at 10am.
Anyhow, I continue to remain jobless. It seems like every couple of weeks I get a lead on a great job, I get my hopes up, I send in my resume and I never hear anything back. It’s hard to not take it as “there’s something wrong with me” instead of “God has the job, I just need to find it”. If I’m on your prayer list then please pray for an open door somewhere, and if I’m not on your prayer list then please add me!
A lot happened in the month of October. My sister, brother-in-law and niece came for a five-day visit. It was perfect timing, I was really starting to miss home. We had our second church meeting at Pastor Russell’s house, always encouraging, especially when we see new faces. I started attending Life Church Dupont and since then have been asked to help lead worship until Sound City starts weekly meetings. I had a meeting with State Farm, still waiting to hear back from them, and of course have continually been adjusting more and more to Olympia as each month goes by.
November has also brought about some exciting days. Last week I scored a free ticket to see Ben Gibbard live in Seattle. It definitely ranked high on my list as far as some of the best bands I’ve ever seen. (Thank you Bobby Ball for that ticket!) I also had the opportunity to take a trip to Vancouver this past week to go to the Passion World Tour Conference. Vancouver is an amazing city, one of my favs, and the worship that night was amazing. We also had our third church service with Sound City. We had our regular attenders, but we're hopeful and praying that several unchurched folks will come next month.
Throughout all of these experiences, and my good days and bad days, God has been teaching me a lot. I’ve just recently realized that somewhere over the course of the past four years I have developed some pretty severe worrying and it hasn’t been until I moved here that I’ve realized that it is the core issue to a lot of the problems that I face day in and day out. I heard a sermon preached by Kyle Lewallen at Life Church and he said a lot of significant things that even three weeks later I am still thinking about.
-You can’t serve two masters.
-We are the pinnacle of God’s creation.
-I’m not thinking like a believer.
-One day at a time.
-Prayer is where you redirect your worry.
Duh. So elementary right? Well leave it up to me to have to learn things the hard way. So I’m not going to go in depth about how all of this struck a chord in my mind, but I can say that it has changed my thought process in a lot of ways. At the beginning of Kyle’s message he had us write down what it is we are worried about and by the time I was finished I probably had a list of ten things. I had no idea how bad it was. If you’re a worrier you can click here and give this sermon a listen.
On another positive note, I got to check out Mars Hill Olympia this week. It was awesome! The people were friendly, Driscoll brought a sweet message (as usual) and the congregation consisted of mostly young believers my age. Finally, just what I’ve been looking for. We’ll see how this evolves over time. Maybe I can make some new friends.
So things keep moving right along in Oly. I’m adjusting well and I’m not as homesick as I once was. Now that I’ve been here nearly three months I can’t really imagine being anywhere else. I really love the Northwest, though my parents probably wouldn’t be happy to hear it. I love the culture here. I’m enjoying the rain (as of right now), and I’ve met some amazing people. I think I’ll stick around.
-Sound City 4th Monthly Service
-Preparing seeds for my garden
-Spending more time with the Mars Hill Community in Oly
Thanks for reading. Picture updates to follow over the next few days.
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