a two-bedroom in brooklyn: September 2009

Yes. It's me. Jed. I'm finally writing an entry. For all of you Amy fans out there, I apologize if you're disappointed that this is not an entry written by her, but please read it anyway. I'll attempt not to bore you. I just couldn't help but be the writer of this entry.

Once again, God has proven Himself ever faithful at the perfect moment. We were floored by God's provision not a day late (particularly from a health insurance perspective) when He provided Amy her job back in May. Well, God did it again! Why am I surprised? I shouldn't be. But that seems to be the status quo for a sinner always in need of a Savior and in need of Holy-Spirit-given faith to believe in that Savior of mine. So here's the scoop of God's most recent out-of-nowhere provision for us.

Where do I even begin? Well, I’ll begin Tuesday, September 8. After a long, late, stressful (stressful in many ways upon which I will not elaborate in order to protect the identity of those who made it thus) day at the office, I got on the subway for my commute home. My stomach was in knots, my back was killing me, I was in atrial fib, my eyelid was twitching, and I knew something had to give, but I didn’t see a way out. I arrived home about 8:45pm, Amy was so lovingly preparing dinner at such a late hour, and I broke down in tears. Here we had spent 6.5 years of our lives in seminary, we had moved to NYC to be more involved in church ministry, and my sales job was turning out to be my life. I had very little family or church life, just work, work, work, sales, sales, sales, whatever it took to get the next student. I cried out to God that evening. I knew we needed the money I was making, but I also realized I only have one life to live, and every day that went by was another day less that I had to live (thank you, John Madden). That night, Amy gave a good old-fashioned spiritual pep talk to me (I definitely had an intense “woe is me” Jonah syndrome at the time), I tried snapping out of it, and I went to work the next day trying to trust God that He had led us to this valley and would lead us through and out of the valley at the appropriate time. I also knew that God would not give me more than I could handle. If I had this job, then that meant that God knew I could handle it for the time being.

Let’s jump two days (only two days) later to Thursday, September 10. I was mentally digging my feet into the ground for the long haul at my current job. If nothing else, I knew that God had given me this NYC sales job to help me fulfill one of our desires in moving to NYC (i.e., understanding the life [and trials therein] of a person working in the cut throat NYC corporate culture). Midday on that Thursday, I looked in our gmail account as I often do, and out of the blue, there was an email in my inbox from a permanent hire job recruiter I hadn't had contact with in 4 months. And unless you don't understand how odd this was, I hadn't sent my resume to anyone since I began my current job 2 months ago! And, until I received this email, I also hadn't heard from any companies in those 2 months either. In the email, the recruiter presented me with a potential job opportunity that was more amazing than any other job opportunity that any recruiter had ever come close to presenting to Amy or me. And let me tell you, Amy and I (especially Amy though) had been given the run around from a bunch of "helpful" recruiters. This particular job opportunity presented me with suitable pay, full-time 35 hours per week, daytime weekday hours, the best health benefits on the market (even better than Amy’s current health benefits), 16 vacation days, 4.5 personal days, and 12 sick days per year, plus holidays. I told her I’d definitely like more details, and she got me an interview with the company on Tuesday, September 15. I interviewed that morning, and had no idea what they thought about me coming out of the interview (especially because I was with my current company for under 2 months). It was then a waiting game. God caused the children of Israel to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. How long was I going to have to wander, I thought? I would go from getting my hopes up to trying to keep my hopes in check so as to not have a “hope deferred” situation on our hands. This past Friday afternoon I got a call from the recruiter. She said the company really liked me, and 30 minutes later I had the job offer. I immediately accepted, gave my 2-week notice at my current job this past Saturday, and I’ll be working here through the end of today. I’ll then begin at my new job October 5, and I'll have many, many more hours per week to devote to family and church. Wow! And for those of you out there who are curious, I will be working in Manhattan 2 blocks from Penn Station. My title will be Benefits Rep for a company called the Committee of Interns and Residents (i.e., medical doctor interns and residents).

Just another NYC situation that has grown me/us and shown us that God is going before us and has been since we moved February 14. Tears of pleading changed to tears of joy! I had the opportunity to preach at a church out on Long Island this past Sunday. I preached from the Book of Habakkuk (great study), and in that sermon, I read the following William Cowper hymn (wish I had the worship leader talent like Bob Kaughlin so we could've sung this, but oh well):

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break
In blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.

The words of this poem have been the happenings of our lives since we moved here on Valentine's Day 2009. God is so good to us, even when we can't always make sense of what His good Hand is working in and through us!

the sidewalks here continually intrigue me, so tonight on my grocery run (jed works late) i decided to bring along my little olympus and tell you about it. maybe you'll find the hilarity in it all as well.

first of all, let me just tell you about the dangerous unevenness of the sidewalks. many times have i gone propelling forward in what could've been a fatal trip, thanks to my tendency to watch the sky, not the ground. some would blame distracted concrete pourers, while others would blame the weather. i blame it on the preservation of just one more attribute that i love about the city: it's quirkiness.

here we have a sure-fire way to stub your toe in sandals.

next, a stroller's nightmare.

at times, walking down the street is like eating popcorn out of those huge, variety pack, christmas tins. three flavors available - the first two are nice but the third tastes like tin.

as i mentioned before, you'll end up in an underground storage unit if you're not careful. caution signs are so early 90's, man.

i almost died of fright one time walking in heels across one of these subway grates. i thought i was tip toeing but i wasn't tipping enough, and the only thought in my mind for a millisecond was "she's going down people."

once in a blue moon, you'll come across a 21st century wonder - pavement. call me crazy, but it's boring, flat, straight, and clean from lack of wear. pppshhht.

there is one thing about the sidewalks here that jed and i can't seem to figure out. see those black dots? this is a shot of a very young and pale piece of sidewalk that hasn't yet been around the block, mind you, but it's still pretty full of black dots, right? well i say it's careless tar workers. jed (with the more likely possibility) says it's decades of gum users. the black dots are ev-er-y-where. seriously. i guess it's impossible to have that many careless tar workers, but on the flip side jed has a chip on his shoulder against people who spit out their gum on the sidewalk as a gift for your shoe.