Ready for the Next Chapter...

Leaving Ur

You may recognize a bit different style and format to this post - Ok so really just a different font and no pictures. Amanda has done a great job keeping up with this blog and for once I figure I (Andy) will give it a shot.

We've been in Fort Smith for four months now. I'm still "in training" at my job, but getting the hang of it I think. I miss my teammates as well as the responsibility of having a team, but I don't miss the stress of late nights and weekends at work or on conference calls, and having to answer for events that I didn't perpetrate to begin with.

We haven't found a church yet. In fact, we've only visited three. Out of the 18 Sundays since we've been here, we've only been in town - and well - for four of them. Two of those three churches Amanda and I both felt aren't for us, but the other one is a possibility and we'd like to visit again. Hopefully now that football season has ended things will settle down and we'll get into more of a routine of being home on the weekends.

Along with finding a church, we need a care group in a BAD way. I remember when we moved to Little Rock, we went through the same thing of not being home on weekends very often, but we quickly got plugged into a "home team" led by Matt Bishop that met on Wednesday nights. It was our rock for a few years. Many of our closest friendships have come from that group.

I've been fighting some sickness or another for a full month now. It's gone from one thing to another and I think it was as bad as anything on Christmas day when I was feeling nauseous, congested, faint, anxious, and everything else all at once. One thing about being sick though, it makes you long to be well and it makes you thankful when you finally feel well again. I can't imagine how Amanda made it through our first pregnancy being what I call "sick sick" every day for the better part of seven months. She has had more than her fair share lately too. With the baby we lost in November she was every bit as sick as she was in the first pregnancy. Before that there was a kidney infection. And just last week she had the SWINE FLU and had a fever up to 103.6!! I have to admit she is much tougher than I and I have a ton of respect for her going through it all with a good attitude.

All that kind of covers what's been going on lately, but what has really been on my heart to share is how we got here. It is incredible the way God led us here, and we’ve gotten to tell the story to many of you face to face, but until now, we haven’t written it down to make sure we always remember and can come back to it down the road when we have doubts. Just as telling, I know Satan doesn’t want us to write any of this, because he always attacks with a million distractions every time we begin to write. Just the fact that you are able to read this is a minor miracle in itself. So… this is the story of how God led us to make the move from Sherwood to Fort Smith:

Needing a Fresh Start
For most of 2009 and maybe earlier, I was becoming more and more burnt out at my job, and we had been struggling to make ends meet with our medical expenses and terrible health coverage at Acxiom. I seriously considered getting a second job many times, but I was working so much I knew that I wouldn't have time to do both. We couldn’t get leg up on financial stresses for working so much, and couldn’t get away from work for financial shortcomings. It was an endless cycle. My 45-minute-commute-on-a-good-day didn't help much either. We prayed for help all the time, but it was mostly "passive" prayer – what I mean by that is we would pray for help financially or for more time at home for me every night, but not with much intent, focus or expectation.

Pray and Act
One day in mid-late June in particular, we were at our wits' end and were BEGGING God for an answer, a change, something. I had been in a habit of listening to podcast sermons by Wayne Grudem of Scottsdale (AZ) Bible Church every day during my commute. I remember distinctly the very next morning hearing him say something incredibly profound, yet simple: Trusting God to take care of you doesn't mean you sit around waiting for your ship to come in. You have to act on the opportunities He gives you and go through the doors He opens for you. The other part of that is that you have to learn to discern which obstacles are Satan’s attacks that you need to push through, and which ones are doors that were closed by the Lord that you should not try to kick in. In a nutshell, the message was pray AND act. That message primed us for the events that were about to transpire.

For the next several weeks Amanda and I went through a lengthy list of wild "coincidences." For starters, the same morning I heard that message, a good friend of ours, Emily Beaty, emailed Amanda out of the blue about a job opening in her department at ABF. We prayerfully decided to submit my resume and application. Emily’s manager at ABF thought I would be a better fit for Data-Tronics, the IT subsidiary of ABF/ABC, and forwarded my information to their head recruiter. I soon found out that one of my good friends from college that shared probably 10-12 Computer Science and Math classes with me works for that person. I was asked to do a phone interview. Great!

However, the phone interview went TERRIBLE. The job wasn't what I thought it was. It was nothing like what I had been doing the past 5 years, and the only opening they had was entry level. On top of that I interviewed very poorly just to be frank. I was sure that was the end of that adventure.

I think someone must have put in a good word for me, because amazingly I was invited for an on-campus interview. Not only did they cover our room for the trip, but they compensated our meals, gas, and mileage both ways, wow! They really treated us well and made a great first impression. The campus visit and interviews went well. I still wasn't sure about being a full time programmer, and was a little bit overwhelmed at how different the company culture seemed to be from Acxiom. But I wasn't completely turned off by it all either. Then things got really crazy.

Decisions, Decisions
At work one of my teammates was being pulled away to a very stressful new role. It was frustrating for me as I had very very little say in the situation. At close to the peak of it all, I had called Amanda and was telling her how I was so burnt out and ready for something new, when the phone beeped. I thought to myself that I hoped it was a job offer (later Amanda told me she hoped the same thing) - and it was! They offered to start me at one step above entry level, which usually takes three years with them to be eligible for - that made a big difference not having to completely start my career over at entry level.

Along the same lines, I've never listed a "desired" or "required" salary on a job application before. I've always put "negotiable" or left it blank. When I applied, I felt like I didn't want to go through a bunch of interviews only to be on different pages with respect to compensation. I also didn't want to be excluded based on assumptions with my job title at Acxiom. So I had filled out my current salary as well as my "required" salary, and left it up to the Lord. The salary they offered fit in between those two numbers so that was a blessing as well.

One of the things Amanda prayed for was peace with leaving her Grannies. She has a very special relationship with both of them, and was especially worried about how they would take it. But each of them gave her some extremely encouraging words when she needed them.

So, we had a big decision to make. We went back and forth all week on pros and cons of accepting the job. On that Saturday, we put Kenley in bed for nap time, and got on our knees in front of our bed and prayed out loud to the Lord. We prayed that 1. His will would be done, and 2. for direction - that He would make it clear what path to take.

Direction!
The sermon at church the next morning hit us like a ton of bricks. We began a new series called "Come Along on the Journey . . . of Faith - Leaving (Yo)Ur." The illustration was about how Abram was called by God to leave his home of Ur without even knowing where God was sending him! There's no way to express how God spoke to us through that sermon. All I can do is share the notes we took:

+ Leaving Ur
--- Listening
***** Leaving Ur means someone was listening to God.
***** "Abram, why are you leaving when you have everything you need/want here?"
***** Abram: "Because God told me to."
--- Going
***** Leaving Ur means going somewhere God wants you to go.
--- Remembering
***** Leaving your Ur means remembering the story of God
+ Leaving your Ur
--- Am I listening to God?
--- Am I willing to go somewhere?
--- Am I dwelling on God's story?
+ Leaving our Ur
--- Leave our fears of failure
--- Leave our current comforts
We're actively listening to God (prayer).
We're going to go where He's called us to go.
We're going to tell His story again and again (disciple)

During the service we sat mostly in shock and without movement. At the end of the service we just looked at each other and knew.

The Lord Provides… Again
After I accepted the offer and decided on a starting date of 9/15, Data-Tronics arranged a house hunting trip for us to find a home. We knew we'd need a place short-term while our house was on the market, so we called ahead to some local apartments. We decided on The Links even before we got into town. When we had called they said they had “several” apartments available, so the plan was to get into town, check out their pad with free golf and pool, and sign a lease.

We arrived in town early on Friday, September 3^rd and went directly to The Links apartments. However, when we arrived and talked to the apartment manager we found out that they only had one apartment open, and it would not be ready until a week – or two – after my job started! We looked all over town for a place that was safe, clean, affordable, and available.

After a morning of striking out, we stopped in the parking lot of yet another completely full apartment complex to pray that the Lord would show us what to do. When we looked up we saw another place across the street that we had overlooked. They looked pretty rough on the outside, but we decided to check them out anyway since we were running low on options. They had a few immediate vacancies, but they were all upstairs with concrete stairwells - not good for a two year old. And not surprisingly the inside was as bad or worse than the outside. The unit we saw did come with a signing bonus of three free roaches. At least they were dead. Another no-go.

On our way back to the car, Gayle, the apartment manager let us into a different unit just to show us what the three bedroom "townhouses" were like. It was unexpectedly much nicer than the other one she had shown us. "This is the manager's apartment" we were told. She said that they used it exclusively for the manager’s quarters or occasionally for corporate moves where a company would pay for several months of rent up front for someone who is relocating. It was definitely livable, but of course, not for rent.

We talked a little bit more and, since I was relocating for a job Gayle decided to call the owner and see if she would consider renting it to us, even though my company wasn’t paying for it. She told us not to get our hopes up because they were very particular about this unit. Yet, the owner agreed! Gayle seemed as surprised as we were, and must have told us three times after that, "I don't know why I showed you that apartment. I never show that unit. It’s been closed up for eight months." But we knew why.

Satan Attacks
A few days later, as we were about to sign and fax in the lease, Gayle called us to tell us that there was a news report of two men that had tried to kidnap a little girl at this apartment complex. Some other residents chased them down and everyone ended up being ok, but Gayle wanted to let us know what had happened so we didn't hear it on the news and then think that she had been dishonest with us about the safety of the place.

It definitely hit close to home having a young daughter ourselves, but we prayed about it and just really had a feeling that it was an attack from Satan trying to scare us into not following what God had set up for us. We prayed for God to make something fall through if this wasn't the place for us. He didn't, and here we are. We aren't careless, especially at night, but so far, it has turned out ok, and our Christmas wreath made it all season on the front of the door. :)

Confirmation
Of course we had doubts even up to and through moving day. It was so hard leaving our friends, family, and work. Our last day in Sherwood was Sunday, Sept. 12. I played drums in church that morning, and God came through with confirmation that we were following his will. Again, probably the best way to convey the message is to share the notes we took:

"MOSES: Out of Africa"
--- How do you know God's will for you?
+ A Scary Start (Ex 2:1-4)
+ An Impossible Rescue (Ex 2:5-10)
+ An Exceptional Model for Faith:
--- Faithfulness when facing trouble is bringing all your God-given talents and resources to bear and then trusting God for the result.
--- Do you trust God's gifting? Utilize it!
--- Do you trust God's prompting? Follow it!
--- Do you trust God's outcome? Accept it!
Romans 8:28: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

Final Confirmation
The first weekend after the move, we visited a Fellowship Bible Church that the Beaty's attend. It also happens to be the closest church to us - literally just around the corner. They were doing a series called “Walking with Giants,” learning from men from the Old Testament that played huge roles in history: Adam, Noah, Moses, Jacob, David, etc. We should have seen it coming by that point I suppose.... What else could the message be on at our first church to visit in our new hometown?

Yes! It was on Abraham, and specifically on how he demonstrated faith by leaving Ur even without knowing exactly where he was going or what he was going to do there. It was exactly the confirmation we needed that we had listened to and obeyed the Lord. Abraham left everything when he had every reason to stay where he was. Why? Because God told him to. At one point the pastor asked: "Have you left everything because God told you to?"

Why yes, we have. And now we're ready to find out what we’re really here to do.