A New Career Begins

The past month or so have been a whirlwind of anticipation, excitement, and anxiousness.  My wife and I accepted a new job with better benefits and pay.  The wait from applying to interviewing, getting the call to accept the job offer, background checks and all just added to the anxiousness.  The days before, wondering if we were making the right decision.  I know I was praying to God that this was indeed an opportunity from Him.  I prayed that He would help us through the whole process.  I also prayed that he would guide us through any difficult times or issues we might encounter and help us to be successful in our new careers.

Before all this, for the past couple years I have been praying consistently for a better opportunity.  Not that we would be rich beyond our wildest dreams, but so things wouldn’t be so much of a struggle, and we wouldn’t have financial emergencies.  We could do more for and with our kids.  Praying that we could have enough to not only take care of our kids, but take care of ourselves as well.  Because you know, if you’re a parent, you put your kids first and yourself second.

When we learned about this opportunity, and I had just applied for the job, I was trying not to get ahead of myself.  I didn’t ever think I wouldn’t get the job, and I needed to keep that in mind.  I was at my previous job at the time and working on my particular duties, and it just all hit me.  I just thought, was God making a way for us?!  With this new job was He really making a way for us?  I though wow, and I froze as I thought about all that I prayed to Him about.  At that moment I just had to hold back the tears because I was coming to the realization that He was.  I happened to be listening to my iPod at the time and when the realization hit me, all my worship songs just started playing, even when I pressed the skip button, there was another worship song even with the iPod on “random.”   

The whole process we have been going through and are continuing with in our new job/training just is an example of God’s work.  The company that hired us has been going through a lot of positive changes recently.  They’ve done improvements in hiring, training, and incentives as well as stuff they do to help make the job less stressful.  The first week has been just great and so have the people.  They’ve put a lot of thought and care in bringing new people on board.  I’m really thankful to Him for this opportunity.  

Backstory of sorts......We (the guys) performed "I Then Shall Live" for Fathers Day at church. There was maybe 3 rehearsals for this. The first time, I didn't like it much at all because I couldn't pick out what to sing. After I watched the video 20 times over, I was singing the wrong tenor harmony part. I think on the last rehearsal they decided that instead of using boom mics, they'd pair us up and use the hand-held mics. Which meant we'd be right up front and center, big LOL (a first for me). Back to the wrong harmony part....the last rehearsal is when I heard the version I was supposed to sing with Mica, our Music Minister. His voice seemed to be giving out at the end of rehearsal. I was literally praying to God before and during service that he wouldn't lose his voice, because I didn't think I'd be able to remember the harmony part. Thankfully he still had his voice and I was able to match the harmony with him for both services.

My Current Comittment

            I’ll start out this out by saying that I am a member of Bridgepoint Church.  I'm not sure if this qualifies as a commitment story or more of a brief summary.  Now in reading this I may jump from one topic to another and then back again, but I’m using Word, so hopefully it’ll help me tell my story in a more “normal” manner.  Most of this is where things stand at this moment.  I’ll eventually post about how I came to God.

            My wife and I, well at the time we were engaged, but I digress…. We were searching for a church to join.  Other churches we went to were ok, and the sermons were fine, but I felt uncomfortable.  There was either a judgmental feeling or tenseness about some of them.  It was something “in the air.”  Long story short we found Bridgepoint.  I felt more comfortable and more at ease.  We weren’t going every Sunday, mostly because of conflicts with work, unfortunately.  It was really a shame because I really looked forward to going, which my wife found amazing.  Now things have finally come to a point where I can attend regularly.  

I recently decided to make a bold move and join the choir.  The choir and sermons are the reason I enjoy going.  It was a major move for me.  I had never sung in a choir, though I’ve been singing to most everything on the radio since I was a kid.  I was really apprehensive.  The song that motivated me really had nothing to do with joining a choir, but it moved me nonetheless.  I think it was at the Easter service that I heard a version of Kari Jobe’s song “Forever.” I wanted to sing to serve God and the church; to give something back.  

Music has been an integral part of my life, though I’m not a professional musician by any means.  I have a couple synths that I play by ear along with tunes I know.    I know the notes on a keyboard, but I’m not good at reading sheet music.  I usually can be found “plugged in” and listening to music during most of my free time.  I’ve always wanted to perform, not to be the center of attention, but to make people feel good, the way I felt when I decided that I wanted to attend Bridgepoint. I never knew what I’d be doing musically until God moved me to do this.  I couldn’t be happier than I am at this moment.  I can feel the music and lyrics with all of my heart, and I believe I can easily convey that to God, which is the reason why I’m singing.  I also hope that I, along with this awesome choir, can move people to worship, accept Jesus as their Savior, and become a member of our church.  

Now, after my first time being up there in front of all the people of Bridgepoint, I guess you can say the Spirit moved me to do more.  I know I wanted to do more musically but after the choir left the stage, and I went to my seat, I felt something.  It was different, maybe like strength.  It wasn’t like I felt accomplished, that I faced a fear or something, or relief that I got through it.  Not really sure I can accurately describe it.  But I answered anyway and sent off an email to our Music Minister, Mica, about singing with the praise team, with the band and such.  So as I get better I hope to do more and sing more in the future.  I’m blessed that God lead us here.