An Odor Update

The blog has been radio-silent for the past two months.  I sent this note to some friends and thought it might be worth putting out in public.

===

Hey friends.  I've appreciated your prayers and encouragement over the past month.  Despite our difficulties, I've never been so aware of God's care and protection.

As you know, my last day as Associate Pastor at the Lexington Vineyard was Sunday, May 20th.  I finished my responsibilities, preached my final sermon, and walked away clean.  After being let go, I decided to put a 30-day hold on looking for new permanent work.  I don't always make good decisions when I'm emotional, and between the job and some other family difficulties, a "pause" seemed like a good idea.  I had a contracting arrangement with a local engineering firm, and so I picked up more hours to cover our expenses and focused on getting our home ready to sell if we moved out of state.

Now that the self-imposed 30 days is up, I've realized that it would be difficult for us to "land" anywhere before the school year starts in the fall, and my preference is not to move Jenna or Liam in the middle of the school year.  In addition, Judi still has a large amount of PhD work to finish at Asbury before December, so staying here in Lexington for another year seems like a good path forward.  With this in mind, I applied for and received a permanent role at the engineering firm, which will keep us here in town until next Spring at the earliest.

In addition to the work, I've still got a foot solidly in the pastoral world.  I'm on track to finish my MDiv by next May, I'll be preaching once a month at a smaller church, and I'm part of a coaching huddle with a national discipleship organization.  This should be a good year of preparation for whatever comes next.

Again, I can't say enough how much I appreciate the prayers and words of encouragement, challenge, and wisdom that I've received from friends over the past month. Thanks for being one of them.