A new journey begins

"Hear my prayer , O Lord; let my cry for help come to you. Do not hide your face from me when I am in distress. Turn your ear to me; when I call, answer me quickly." Psalms 102

"My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken." Psalms 62

These two scriptures describe my feelings over the past several years. I would have times of worry and wondering what to do. Praying to God for help, wisdom, whatever I thought I needed or was feeling. Then God would answer my prayer. Then I would feel stupid for worrying about things when God would take care of them for me. I would then pray for forgiveness for being weak and faithless. I would feel stronger in God's love. I would feel almost invincible. I guess it is really no different from anyone else. The problem for me is, it seemed to be the same thing over and over again. That is tiresome and foolish. One of my dearest friends in the world has a quote he likes to use, (and unfortunately has been directed to me at times.) "How is that working out for you?".....the ruthless and truthful Kyle Wade.

For the past 2 years I have really been stuck in a rut. I have not been enjoying what I do for a living. I had been praying to God for an answer of what to do? I have a little story I want to share with you that I think shows the power of prayer and the power of God.

A week before Christmas I was in Gander Mountain doing some last minute shopping. Besides I just like to go look around in there anyway. I have a good friend who is a manager there and she happened to be working that afternoon. Before I go any further, if you remember, I worked there in the winter of 2008. Becky told me that they were fixing to have a managers position open up after Christmas. We kinda joked about it and said I should apply for the job. One thing led to another and the next thing I knew I was in the store managers office having an interview. (which I already knew him because of working there.) I started a week ago today. I am enjoying it very much. Besides working with kids, the thing I love the most is hunting and fishing. Wouldn't you know it? I am in charge of the fishing and camping departments. (kinda funny I am in charge of camping, with my last name Camp, don't you think?) OK, let me break this down for you.

I believe God put me in position for this job back in the winter of 2008. (planning) I don't think it was by chance I saw Becky before Christmas. (intervention) I also don't think it is a fluke my gut told me to go apply for the job. (Holy Spirit guiding me) Then actually getting the job. (answered prayer)

I learned a long time ago to follow my gut instincts. This was one of those times. I prayed to God about it. I talked to my brother, preacher, and one of our elders at church about it. Prayed some more about it, and when the offer came to either accept or decline the job, I had a peace about what to do. The cool thing about this is I can still do pest control on the side. To what extent is yet to be determined, but I can still do it. (so if you are a client don't go get someone else!!!) I love the way God puts the puzzle together.

I didn't realize this, but it has been a long time since I have been this relaxed and peaceful. (I will feel even better when the first pay check comes. Ha!) I don't know if this little story helps anyone in a similar position or not. If it does then that is great.

In Judges 18, a tribe called the Danites were looking for a place to live. In their quest, they sent out 5 warriors to explore the land. In their journey they came to a priests house and began asking questions. They asked the young Levite priest to "Please inquire of God to learn whether our journey will be successful?" The priest answered them saying," Go in peace. Your journey has the Lord's approval." I find it interesting, he didn't say they would be successful, but he said approved.

I believe God will take care of those who trust and follow him. God never said it would be easy. He never promised no pain. But to have his approval is awesome. My family and I begin a new journey. Another chapter is unfolding before us. Where this takes us is yet to be determined. How long we go with it is up to God. I am excited about the future. I may not agree with Obama about his kind of change....but sometimes change is good.

Later on....

Cutter's final tourney

I just wanted to give everyone the final update on Cutter and his wrestling career. Ha! He wrestled last weekend in Dumas. If you remember, the last tournament he wrestled in, we had to move him up a weight division. If you also remember, he won the thing. Saturday in Dumas was a good day. Cutter wrestled for the championship again. He was wrestling a boy from Liberal Kansas. These two kids are as evenly matched as anyone Cutter wrestled this year. Cut had him down 9-5 in points going into last few seconds in the second round. They tumbled off the mat and as they were getting up, Cutter took a foot right in the eye. Oh man it hurt. We took a timeout to get him gathered and all. Looking back now, I don't think he was really ready to continue. I should have given him more time. By the time the round was over he was behind 10-9. He ended up losing 13-10. He was upset as you can imagine. Mostly because he got hurt. I hate to see my son get beat, but I also understand losing sometimes is good also. Cutter also wrestled a division up in Dumas. He wrestled his weight division in the open category. He was competing against 1st and 2nd graders. This was real tough for him. He got beat 12-0 his first match. Lost 12-7 his second match, and won by forfeit his third match. It was good experience for him. We were able to get him some more mat time. There is a final tournament this weekend, but Cutter decided he was done for the year and didn't want to wrestle. I thought that was a good idea too. Cutter ended up winning 11 matches, and losing 7. Two first place wins, a second, two thirds, a fifth, and a ninth. All in all a pretty good record, considering he only started wrestling in late October.

Cutter and I were having one of our many conversations about very important things the other day. I can't exactly remember what brought this up, but he was wondering something about God. Somehow the conversation ended up me telling him the story about Jacob wrestling with God. He was totally amazed by the story. He finally said he thought that was cool that God wrestles too, like him.

Cutter is now playing basketball. (I think some of the reason he was ready to stop wrestling for a while.) I will have more about basketball later.