Everything's Coming Up Milhouse
Where'd that phrase even come from, anyway? I blame k8.
Life has taken a dramatic and well-earned turn toward the good the last few weeks. To give you an idea about how good things are right now, I feel that I need to explain to you how hard the first 1/3 of this year has been. I haven't said too much about it, because I don't find LJ or facebook to be the place to express that sort of hardship, and because I generally have trouble telling people when my life is sucking. But now that things are good, I want to take a moment and explore just how bad they were previously.
January - April 2012:
January was full of unexpected expenses. Ben's health tanked in more than one way, necessitating multiple doctor's visits and medicines, causing financial and emotional stress. Other things also caused our already tight budget to disintegrate. Also, my favorite captain at my weekend job at the Columbia Club got fired and was replaced by a series of jerks/idiots, turning my fun moonlighting experience into tedious labor.
In February, I was delayed in my ordination track, largely due, it seems, to my lack of interest in being a local church pastor. I want to be a National Guard Chaplain, for which I have to serve the sacraments, for which I have to be an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church, for which I have to accept itinerancy (moving around every few years) and full-time appointment in a local church. There is a lot of heartbreak (and associated whining) that goes along with your church telling you that your call (which you've spent diligent years discerning) is not quite right, but I'll skip over most of it and say that I spent most of February feeling rejected, embarrassed, angry, and questioning if (as one of my interviewers suggested) I should leave the United Methodist Church altogether.
In March, the Program Director position came open for a camp that I worked at recently. I was very close to getting this job three years ago and thought, since I'm more experienced now and on good terms with the Executive Director, this was a promising application. I didn't even get an interview.
In April, I went on the Appalachian Trail for a week and managed to shed a lot of the anger and bitterness I was carrying around, while also clarifying my path forward. But when I got back, my staff at my school site imploded (yay bickering old ladies!) and my truck got crashed (friend was driving - everyone was ok, but still a bummer).
It got to the point where I woke up each day wondering when and what was going to go wrong that day, because it seemed like it was something, every. single. day.
I'm not looking for your sympathy with any of the above. If I were, I would have posted about it a while ago. I just want you to understand why I am so very, very happy right now.
Three weeks ago, I had an interview at Camp Atterbury for the National Guard - just a formality for someone trying to join up really. During the interview, the chaplain told me that the base was hiring civilian chaplains and asked if that was something I'd be interested in. It's more money and better experience than my current job, so I signed up right away! I start with them on May 29. Hooray new jobs!
Speaking of new jobs, our substitute pastor at my church is getting me on board as a weekend on-call chaplain at the hospital he works at, gaining me even more relevant experience and also reducing or eliminating the need to work at the Columbia Club.
Speaking of the Church and its issues, at General Conference (national meeting of United Methodists that happens once every four years), they did away with guaranteed appointment for UM elders. While this is terrible news for most, for me, it might be a blessing. If the bishop is not required to appoint me to a church, maybe I am not required to be appointed? It's definitely an argument I plan on making. Also, they might be giving sacramental priveleges to deacons, which would suit my call perfectly.
And this very day, I got my truck back!
Being a professional Christian, I find it hard to voice belief in karma. But I do tend to find that life balances itself out over time. Even when things were at their worst this year, I couldn't help but think that I was making one helluva down payment on something. I'm just glad that it finally turned.
Life has taken a dramatic and well-earned turn toward the good the last few weeks. To give you an idea about how good things are right now, I feel that I need to explain to you how hard the first 1/3 of this year has been. I haven't said too much about it, because I don't find LJ or facebook to be the place to express that sort of hardship, and because I generally have trouble telling people when my life is sucking. But now that things are good, I want to take a moment and explore just how bad they were previously.
January - April 2012:
January was full of unexpected expenses. Ben's health tanked in more than one way, necessitating multiple doctor's visits and medicines, causing financial and emotional stress. Other things also caused our already tight budget to disintegrate. Also, my favorite captain at my weekend job at the Columbia Club got fired and was replaced by a series of jerks/idiots, turning my fun moonlighting experience into tedious labor.
In February, I was delayed in my ordination track, largely due, it seems, to my lack of interest in being a local church pastor. I want to be a National Guard Chaplain, for which I have to serve the sacraments, for which I have to be an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church, for which I have to accept itinerancy (moving around every few years) and full-time appointment in a local church. There is a lot of heartbreak (and associated whining) that goes along with your church telling you that your call (which you've spent diligent years discerning) is not quite right, but I'll skip over most of it and say that I spent most of February feeling rejected, embarrassed, angry, and questioning if (as one of my interviewers suggested) I should leave the United Methodist Church altogether.
In March, the Program Director position came open for a camp that I worked at recently. I was very close to getting this job three years ago and thought, since I'm more experienced now and on good terms with the Executive Director, this was a promising application. I didn't even get an interview.
In April, I went on the Appalachian Trail for a week and managed to shed a lot of the anger and bitterness I was carrying around, while also clarifying my path forward. But when I got back, my staff at my school site imploded (yay bickering old ladies!) and my truck got crashed (friend was driving - everyone was ok, but still a bummer).
It got to the point where I woke up each day wondering when and what was going to go wrong that day, because it seemed like it was something, every. single. day.
I'm not looking for your sympathy with any of the above. If I were, I would have posted about it a while ago. I just want you to understand why I am so very, very happy right now.
Three weeks ago, I had an interview at Camp Atterbury for the National Guard - just a formality for someone trying to join up really. During the interview, the chaplain told me that the base was hiring civilian chaplains and asked if that was something I'd be interested in. It's more money and better experience than my current job, so I signed up right away! I start with them on May 29. Hooray new jobs!
Speaking of new jobs, our substitute pastor at my church is getting me on board as a weekend on-call chaplain at the hospital he works at, gaining me even more relevant experience and also reducing or eliminating the need to work at the Columbia Club.
Speaking of the Church and its issues, at General Conference (national meeting of United Methodists that happens once every four years), they did away with guaranteed appointment for UM elders. While this is terrible news for most, for me, it might be a blessing. If the bishop is not required to appoint me to a church, maybe I am not required to be appointed? It's definitely an argument I plan on making. Also, they might be giving sacramental priveleges to deacons, which would suit my call perfectly.
And this very day, I got my truck back!
Being a professional Christian, I find it hard to voice belief in karma. But I do tend to find that life balances itself out over time. Even when things were at their worst this year, I couldn't help but think that I was making one helluva down payment on something. I'm just glad that it finally turned.