God’s Plan

I lived in Germany for seven years after retiring from the Air Force and wanted to come back home to Mena, Arkansas to be around my family and the beauty that Mena offers.

I was working at LRMC (Landstuhl Regional Medical Center) as an HR assistant, in-processing new personnel and out-processing personnel leaving and performing leave and finance duties for all the soldiers assigned and I was thankful for the job, but there is a term limit for government civilians working overseas, that they started enforcing, called the five-year-rule. I had completed 22 years in the Air Force moving where the military wanted me to and I wanted to live where I wanted to, so I took it upon myself to find a job in Arkansas to get closer to family and home.

I applied for what seemed like countless jobs only to be turned down, however, I made some interview lists and struck out, but I finally got an interview to be the Program Assistant in Arkadelphia with the ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) and was hired, a blessing from God.

My wife and I sold almost all our things and shipped some essentials along with our Van and moved to Mena, Arkansas. Arkadelphia is 1 hour and 45 minutes away from Mena one way. That job got me back to Arkansas.

It didn’t take too long and my wife, Manuela, was invited to attend a Church in Mena. We started attending Faith Missionary Baptist Church and fell in love with the Pastor’s style of preaching. It was like he was preaching right at you at times. It was as if he was spying on us, but that was just the Holy Spirit working inside of us. The Pastor ended up leaving and the more we got to know the congregation, the more we fell in love with the Church body. They’re so loving and nice. That’s what following Jesus is about…Love, and the Church does a great job displaying that.

Anyway, I was asked to be on the Pulpit committee, to help search for a new Pastor. I wanted to be on the committee, but never expressed this desire to anyone. That was God’s work. I thought being on the committee was going to be a breeze, we’ll meet a few times, make a few phone calls and have a new Pastor in a few weeks. I was wrong, we are going on three months. You see, there are more Churches looking for Pastors than Pastors looking for Churches. God wants me to learn something from this experience. I know God has a plan and it’s on his time, not mine. That’s one thing that God is trying to teach me (patience) and the other I think he wants me to understand is to have faith. God’s got this. It’s not about us (the pulpit committee), it’s about him. He is going to send us the right preacher for our Church. We just gotta believe.

There’s not many government jobs in Mena, but we do have the Forest Service in Mena and I found an opening in Mena that I applied for. I had been praying to get closer to home for some time now and when I saw the opening, I put my resume in for it and prayed and waited. Well God heard me and I got the job. Now, I drive about 6 minutes one way to work as opposed to driving 1 hour and 45 minutes. It’s crazy, I hardly ever have to put gas in my car now. I bought a Ford Eco Sport to help with gas mileage for the drive to Arkadelphia. It gets about 35 miles to the gallon on the highway. I was getting gas every two days, now maybe once every two weeks, another blessing from God.

On one of the times we visited Mena, my wife and I looked at a house that my step Mom’s sister and husband had for sale. At first, I thought why should we look at this house, we don’t even have a job lined up here yet (Oh Ye of little faith) but God works in mysterious ways. I ended up getting the job in Arkadelphia, buying the house and eventually getting the job in Mena. The house is less than three miles away from the Forest Service. All of it worked out, God has a plan. We just have to have faith.

Faith and Patience

I work in Arkadelphia, Arkansas and I commute 1 hour and 45 minutes one way to work. We moved from Germany to Mena in April 2018, I’m a government employee and there weren’t very many GS jobs near my hometown in Mena, where my wife and I wanted to live.

But, I kept looking on USA jobs for job opportunities in Mena or at least in the area. I finally found one I was qualified for and applied for it a few months ago (It seems like almost 6 months). If you have ever applied for a job on USA jobs, you know it takes a long time to get notifications on the status.) I interviewed for the job over the phone and I would much rather interview in person, with a firm handshake and look the interviewers in the eye while answering questions while dressed for success.

I was nervous and I didn’t like my interview, but I prayed that if it was God’s will, they would pick me for the position. I rationalized it with God, saying I would have more family time, I wouldn’t have to worry about deer jumping out in front of me, or wrecking my car. I wouldn’t have to worry about bad weather. I would save money on gas, and oil changes, wear on tires, etc., etc. But God knew all this.

I kept my faith, but I hadn’t heard back from them in what seemed like an eternity, but in reality it was probably 3 or 4 weeks, so I called the forest service and checked to see if they had made a selection and they stated they had, but it was taking a long time for the notification to be announced. And two days later, I was notified that I was selected for the position. If I hadn’t have been selected I would have been disappointed, but I would accept that God needs me there in Arkadelphia, however, I kept my faith and tried to be patient and it all worked out and I am still thanking the Lord for this opportunity to be closer to home.

Fishing Trip Prayer

We’ve been busy and I finally got a chance to go fishing yesterday. I looked at the radar and there was a little patch of rain nearby and a long line to the West of us. I pressed play on the radar to try and figure out where the rain was headed, but I was having a hard time predicting if it would rain or not.

I was about to grab my gear and go, but my wife wanted me to wait until Charlotte, my three year old, woke up from her nap, so I honored her request, but I was hopeful that I didn’t miss my chance to fish without thunderstorms and heavy rain.

On the way to the undisclosed location, I said a little prayer that it wouldn’t rain hard and there wouldn’t be any thunderstorms. The radar looked like it could rain any second. I had the van already packed with my gear and I made sure to bring a rain jacket.

We arrived at my fishing spot and I jumped in a boat and paddled out to my favorite fishing spot. It had just rained and it was in the afternoon now, so it wasn’t ideal fishing conditions. The wind was blowing me from one side of the pond to the other. I paddled from one side of the pond to the other a few times and I said “Ok, if this is where you want me, this is where I’ll stay, take me where you want me Lord.” And I didn’t fight it, I just fished right there. I was getting frustrated because I had been there for about an hour and not one bite. I even tried different fishing lures. I saw a big bass attacking and eating a perch, right by the boat. I didn’t even think to try and scoop the fish up with my net though.

I started getting some bites, but nothing serious. Keep in mind I am not a professional fisherman and I like to fish with Zoom Brush Hogs on a big hook, so oftentimes the bass get off. So now that I am at least getting some bites. I’m getting more frustrated that I am not catching any fish and I forgot my basket to put any fish in that I may catch, so I am thinking that the reason I am not catching any fish is because I didn’t bring a stringer or my basket, which makes no sense at all. It would make more sense that I would catch a lot of fish because I didn’t bring a stringer.

Anyway, now the sun is coming out, it’s getting hot and it’s really not ideal conditions for fishing. And now I am praying that I could catch a big fish because I know there are BIG fish in this pond. I hooked a huge one before, but didn’t officially catch it and I didn’t get a picture of it either, but the Lord blessed me with good weather and that is what I asked for. My prayer was to not have thunderstorms or heavy rain. I didn’t pray to catch any fish.

Now, I am praying that a big fish would take this lure like he is serious about it and swallow it or that it is hooked in his lip. The prayer was to actually catch a fish and that the fish wouldn’t get off the hook. I was just about to give up. I was making my way back to the shore and I hooked a monster bass and he was wearing me out. I was afraid he as going to get under the boat and get off. And the Lord blessed me with a great catch. It even jumped up and “tail walked” on me and still couldn’t get off the hook, it was hooked pretty good. I recently bought a big net for an occasion just like this, but it sure is hard to scoop up a 6 lb. bass by your self. I ended up releasing the fish because she had eggs.

I give all the glory to God that he allowed the fish to get hooked so good that the fish could not get off the line and into my net. Like I said, I am no great fisherman anyway. And the Lord first blessed me with no rain, like I asked for, then I prayed to catch a fish and I did. I told the Lord thank you for allowing me to catch that fish. The Lord does answer our prayers, but we have to be careful what we ask for. If we pray and have faith he will provide.

Breakthrough

Last night, my wife and I found someone to watch the kids while we had a “date night”. Our Church posted that the movie Breakthrough was playing at the local movie theater, so we decided to go watch it. We don’t typically go out much these days, we have a five year old and a three year old, so we stay at home with them most of the time, but I have a cousin that was gracious enough to come take care of them for a couple of hours. It was certainly nice to get out and see some of our Church congregation. We had a pretty good turn out of about 2o people for the first showing and there were more standing in line, when our showing was done.

So how was the movie? I absolutely LOVED it. It was amazing, however, if you watch the trailer, you can pretty much figure out what is going to happen. But I think there is a bigger picture to the movie beyond the obvious story with John, the boy that falls though the ice. I think there is another story line with Mike Colter’s character “Tommy”. You see Tommy heard a voice telling him not to stop looking for John and exactly where to look for him in the lake. But there is one problem, Tommy doesn’t believe in God, so I think a possible outcome of the true story is that Tommy finds God and becomes saved, at least that is what I hope happened.

Not only is this movie based on a true story, it is a faith based film, it also has some sports in it and the executive producer of the movie is Stephen Curry. It’s truly a great movie. I encourage you all to go and see it. I have embedded the trailer movie here and an interview with Stephen Curry stating why he wanted to be involved in the movie.

I’m sorry I haven’t written more. I’ll try to do better, enjoy the trailers.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Characters+in+Breakthrogh+&view=detail&mid=F5B8F1B46AF421DB2F3EF5B8F1B46AF421DB2F3E&FORM=VIRE0&mmscn=tpvh&ru=%2fsearch%3fq%3dCharacters%2bin%2bBreakthrogh%2b%26form%3dEDNTHT%26mkt%3den-us%26httpsmsn%3d1%26refig%3de90982d154734e7ae71a61cd3769241f%26PC%3dASTS%26sp%3d-1%26pq%3dcharacters%2bin%2bbreakthro%26sc%3d0-23%26qs%3dn%26sk%3d%26cvid%3de90982d154734e7ae71a61cd3769241f

God ‘Can Do Miracles’: Steph Curry on Why He Produced ‘Breakthrough’