Faith and Patience

Our Church is currently searching for a Pastor, and in our Wednesday night message, someone commented that our Church’s faith and patience may be being tested now since we have been searching for five months, for such a long time. And my argument is maybe five months is not a long time to God. Maybe God is trying to teach us something, maybe he is trying to teach us patience and faith. Maybe, if we found a preacher in the near future and it took six and half months or seven months or even less than a year, maybe that is a blessing because it didn’t take years. I think it depends if you look at the glass half empty or half full.

Our Church has always had a Preacher either filling in or in view-of-a-call so there has been a preacher preaching every Sunday and I firmly believe that God has used or Church for inexperienced Preachers to gain experience. We’ve truly been blessed with the different sermons from the different Preachers filling in. And meeting with the Pulpit Committee is a blessing in itself too. We have developed a camaraderie that we will miss when we do fill the position, we joked that we may continue to meet even after we find a Pastor.

God puts us through trials and tribulations and tests our faith to teach us, for us to grow as Christians. “God’s ultimate purpose for us is to grow more and more into the image of His Son” (Got Questions.Org 2002-2020)

“This is the goal of the Christian, and everything in life, including the trials and tribulations, is designed to enable us to reach that goal. It is part of the process of sanctification.” (Got Questions.Org 2002-2020)

Romans 8:29 “For whom he did foreknew he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” (Holman KJV Study Bible 2015)

“Trials develop godly character, and that enables us to rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, character and hope.” (Got Questions.Org 2002-2020)

Through all of God’s trials and tribulations, we overcome adversity and it makes us stronger in our walk with Christ.

I watched the movie Overcomer a few days ago and I highly recommend it to you.

“And he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations.” (Holman KJV Study Bible 2015)

Are you an Overcomer?

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.