Reflecting on the last 3 years
Three years ago I got laid off from my job at Mars Hill Church. The new
budget year was about to kick in and they didn’t have the money to pay
me anymore. That would be the start of the most difficult - yet by far
the best - season of my life.
The next four months saw me go into something of a spritual funk. I
basically kept gling to church wnd community group out of routine; there
was no passion in it to speak of. Then God brought Samson, a friend that
I had made while working at the church, to mind. I asked him if he’d be
willing to walk through that season of life with me and be my mentor. He
gladly said yes.
We started meeting weekly in October 2009 and set some goals: read the
Bible, do ministry, lose some weight, find a sustaining job, pray about
how to pursue a woman for marriage, things like that.
Since then, I’ve:
- Married my best friend, whom I wouldn’t have even met if I still
worked down in Ballard. Emily and I met just after I moved to the
Shoreline campus of Mars Hill in August, 2010. I was one of the
refugees from the old Lake City campus that closed earlier that
summer and she invited me to her community group; our friendship
grew over the next few months and we started dating on December 14,
then married the following July 22.
- Had a good and steady job where I’ve moved up twice in a company
that I thought I had topped out in. Going from service tech driving
to Kent 4 days a week to sales and a 10 minute commute now to being
our developer. What a crazy progression.
- Lead a community group with Emily in our condo for a little over a
year now. One of the first things Samson asked me when we started
meeting was why I wasn’t a community group leader. I thought that
was a ridiculous question given the season I was in, but God used it
to plant the seed in my head 17 months before it would actually
happen.
- Lost around 70lbs
It’s all happened only by the grace of God. I never thought that losing
my job could be one of the best things that’s ever happened to me but
I’m convinced now thats the case.
Three years ago I got laid off from my job at Mars Hill Church. The new budget year was about to kick in and they didn’t have the money to pay me anymore. That would be the start of the most difficult - yet by far the best - season of my life.
The next four months saw me go into something of a spritual funk. I basically kept gling to church wnd community group out of routine; there was no passion in it to speak of. Then God brought Samson, a friend that I had made while working at the church, to mind. I asked him if he’d be willing to walk through that season of life with me and be my mentor. He gladly said yes.
We started meeting weekly in October 2009 and set some goals: read the Bible, do ministry, lose some weight, find a sustaining job, pray about how to pursue a woman for marriage, things like that.
Since then, I’ve:
- Married my best friend, whom I wouldn’t have even met if I still worked down in Ballard. Emily and I met just after I moved to the Shoreline campus of Mars Hill in August, 2010. I was one of the refugees from the old Lake City campus that closed earlier that summer and she invited me to her community group; our friendship grew over the next few months and we started dating on December 14, then married the following July 22.
- Had a good and steady job where I’ve moved up twice in a company that I thought I had topped out in. Going from service tech driving to Kent 4 days a week to sales and a 10 minute commute now to being our developer. What a crazy progression.
- Lead a community group with Emily in our condo for a little over a year now. One of the first things Samson asked me when we started meeting was why I wasn’t a community group leader. I thought that was a ridiculous question given the season I was in, but God used it to plant the seed in my head 17 months before it would actually happen.
- Lost around 70lbs
It’s all happened only by the grace of God. I never thought that losing my job could be one of the best things that’s ever happened to me but I’m convinced now thats the case.