Old Pic Found

I found an old picture today as I was cleaning out my facebook page. It is a picture of midnight when I first got him as a puppy, I think he was 8-9 weeks old. Still just as wild as the look in his eyes.

Time ticking on

I work in a job where time is everything. We are constantly watching the clock and changing our positions and stances with the ever ticking edifice. I have become rather good at ignoring what time it is, while still paying close attention to it. With work I have built up a good routine, I know that eventually the clock will advance and I will leave. In fact, this is what I often tell myself as time drags on. "Time will pass and before you know it you will be leaving."

This truth about time, that it marches relentlessly on, comes back to bite me. Here I am twenty-nine years old, still in college, with the ultimate goal of getting a job and settling down. I have been in college since 1999, with only a couple short breaks. I remember thinking that I could never be a doctor or get a Ph.D because of how long I would be in school. Now I would love to just have a career that I can retire with. Thus I am seeking to be a high-school teacher, a career in which I can plant myself in relative ease.

Yet time marches relentlessly on. I am still here working on my degree, dogged with delays and obstacles. The joy of it all is that God is working every bump and turn in the road for my good and his glory. I am trying to get done, for I know my life is on hold until I can settle down with this new career.

I know that realistically I cannot date or marry until I am finished. I am hesitant to build up or attain any friendship here, for I will be leaving here soon (I hope). I am living with my parents, so anything I want to improve about my home or room will not benefit me in the long term. They will sell this house eventually, with all the benefits I add to it. (I love my parents and they are providing me with free room and board, so I am not complaining!) Any money I save is going to pay for the schooling I am undertaking. I just feel that until I get a real job and move home, I will be living in limbo.

So as I feel at times (right now) that time is going so terribly slow, I know one truth, time marches relentlessly on. I once thought that getting married would never happen, it did and then before I knew it she died to me and left. I thought once that college, then grad school would never end. Yet they did and I am just working on what is hopefully the final installment of my primary education.

So let's raise a glass to God, who controls this time we are in. For him millennia are as a second.

Job Goals

I know I have mentioned this recently, but it keeps coming to mind. The more I think about it the more I love the idea of getting my M.Ed and going back to Ohio. More specifically I would like to move back to the Cedarville Area.

There are many reasons for thinking this way, but one of the biggest reasons is my best friend. He is like a brother to me and I value him as such. The second reason is that there is an opportunity to fulfill many dreams in one shot there. How much fun would it be to have a job that I love (teaching High school science) while also having a ministry that I would love (RD at Cedarville).

One thing is for sure, I can stay here in NOVA for a long time, but it will never be a permanent home. I am living with my parents, and I love them to death. In fact I could easily foresee living here many more years. However, I feel no sense of belonging here other than the presence of my parents. I have a few church friends, many acquaintances, and an untold number of people who seem to know me more than I know them; however, I am only close to my parents. I in fact can't survive here financially without my parents.

I long to settle down and be Uncle Charlie to a pair of precious girls, to be around my closest friends, to be within a days drive of my sister, and to possibly be able to support a family of my own. Thus currently all my plans and goals are pointed at getting me eventually back home to Ohio. I have been praying about it, seeking God's will on where to go and what to do. As long as he allows this dream to continue I will pursue it. It will probably be another five to ten years, but the thought of going home is still intoxicating.