Happy Announcement!

You know, I'm blessed. I once knew a guy who always responded with, "I'm blessed" every single time someone would ask him how he was. In a way, it was annoying because there was really no point in asking if you really wanted to know how he was doing. But in another sense, it doesn't matter how things are going...we're blessed.

In this economy, with the record unemployment numbers, I have to be honest. I'm blessed. I've been unemployed twice since I've lived here in Rocklin. That's twice in less than 5 months! The first stint lasted one month, and this recent one lasted 3 weeks. I know of people who have been unemployed for over a year, looking, looking and looking. In fact, I found that looking for a full time job is a full time job, itself.

Here's how things went this time. I had been looking through all the online job boards. I posted my resume everywhere. I submitted my resume everywhere. I was very discouraged because I really felt painted into a corner. The paint was my resume. I no longer wanted to be what my resume claims I am, professionally. I received offers for interviews, but just didn't feel right about accepting them. That's kind of odd behavior when you're flat broke with no income.

Monday, December 1: I was at a bible study at a church here in town. During a fellowship break, I returned a phone call which came during the worship portion of the service. The call was from the Creative Arts pastor from my church. Our senior pastor had asked him to contact me to see if I'd be interested in working for a guy he knew. His name is Gary. This is where it gets interesting. This guy is a guy I sort of knew. I went to college with his wife, back before they were married. I even attended their wedding nearly 20 years ago. He is a motivational speaker. He does a lot of corporate events, television shows and churches. He was looking for a personal assistant.

Wednesday, December 3: I hadn't heard from anyone yet. I saw my friend, the Creative Arts pastor this particular night and asked if he had heard anything. He gave me an unintentionally cryptic answer. He said I probably wouldn't hear anything until after the coming Sunday. He wouldn't give a reason, though I tried to press him for more information.

Sunday, December 7: As I'm walking into the sanctuary, I see Gary and his wife coming in just ahead of me. That's odd. They don't go to our church. Then I remembered the cryptic answer from Wednesday that I'd have to wait until after Sunday. Something is afoot. During the service, Gary is introduced as the new Men's Ministry pastor at my church. How about that? God is bringing this guy into my home church. Gary and I meet briefly following the service and set up a meeting for the following morning.

Monday, December 8: Gary and I meet at Peets Coffee and talk for about an hour. He tells me more about his business, his vision for his new job at the church, and what he is looking for in his assistant. Then, I tell him about my passions and my skills and giftings. Our personalities are different, but they blend. Gary recognizes the need to staff your weaknesses. He knows he has great strengths and talents, but he also knows he has deficiencies.

Don't we all?

At the end of our meeting, he tells me he'll get back to me. He needs to consult with his wife, as they are business partners as much as they are husband and wife. Within hours, he called me back and said I was in.

Since then, we've hit the ground running. We've had several phone convesations, meetings with him and his wife, meetings with the pastor and administrator at the church. As you read this, we're on our way to San Diego where he will be appearing on the local Fox affiliate's morning television show.

**UPDATE: I'm not on this San Diego trip after all. We've got some things to do in town while he's out promoting his book, so I'm keeping the home fires burning this week.

This is a great blessing to me. Gary and his wife have welcomed me with open arms, and we are already forming a great partnership.

I'll keep you posted on how things develop, where we are, what we're doing and where we're going. You can also follow me on Twitter. The updates are posted on the top right of this page. If you have a Twitter account, just click "Follow Me", and you'll get all my updates.

Stay tuned!