A New Beginning

I had a MySpace blog earlier in the year, but it was mostly complaining. And hardly anybody ever read it, which was part of what I got into complaining about. Besides, what friends I had on MySpace were all younger than I am (as is often the case there) so I didn't really fit in. After a while I deactivated my account, and recently decided to attempt a "real" blog.

I had been at Atlanta Bible College, and thought I wanted to be a pastor. Now I'm not sure what I want to do, or what God wants me to do. Neither my wife nor I could find work in Atlanta, and we ran out of money. The bad news was we had to leave. The good news was that they were willing to write off my debt and even give us money to help move.

We knew a couple in Seattle whom we had met in Syracuse, NY (where we lived before coming to Atlanta) and they offered us a place to stay until we got settled, if we wanted to relocate to the Seattle area. After much deliberation we decided to take them up on it.

While getting ready to move, I received word that my mother was in the hospital with pneumonia and was not expected to make it, due to weak heart, lung problems, and other ailments. The day before we were to leave Atlanta, she passed away.

This added to the overwhelming feelings of depression that I was already feeling, from not knowing what to do with my life, and having difficulties in relating to people. It reached the worst point when, midway through the trip, we ran out of money. The truck was getting way less mileage than we had anticipated, and in Mitchell, South Dakota, we were down to the last quarter tank with no way to get any more gas.

I tried calling my family, but they had just spent what extra money they'd had for Mom's funeral. I was in such despair I wanted to give up, but my wife managed to keep her head about her, and made some phone calls to people we knew back in Georgia. By the next day we had enough money to continue, thanks to the generous help of friends in Georgia.

They also prayed for us, and it made a difference. When I woke up that morning, I was not feeling the overwhelming depression and heaviness that had enveloped me the day before. We set out on our way, trusting (albeit timidly) in God's providence.

Next post, I will continue with our adventures moving to the Other Coast.