Life goes on

Adam and I seem to have a running conversation about where we're going. The loss of his job this coming June was the first event. The troubles we've had at our church are the second event. It's hard when troubles come in twos!

In some other places we've lived, our housing and our jobs have been yoked. This presents difficulties; when you lose the job, you AUTOMATICALLY lose the housing. Yikes! We longed to be like normal people (yeah, you've heard that one from me before!) who lose one job but then get another, and don't have to MOVE out of their HOMES.

So, when we came to this city, we bought a home, (obviously) unconnected to our work. We knew it was dicey for us both to work for the same institution. It would be financially safer for us to be employed 2 places. And we kept our church life separate from our work life. We didn't want those 2 tangled up together, as they'd often been before.

And what does God do? He just uproots us by letting both the work and the church fall into crisis simultaneously! I have this suspiciously familiar feeling of my roots being ripped from their comfortable soil. In other words: time for a move!

Now, I don't know that we'll move. But after talking this weekend, I think Adam and I both realize this needs to be a real possibility. I hate it for the kids, but it's too limiting for Adam to look for work ONLY in our town. He may well find work here. He may find a pastorate here. But as of this weekend, he's expanded his search to include churches elsewhere, out of state.

My brilliant back-up plan is for Adam to substitute teach in the public school system next fall. If you are available every day, and willing to do middle and high school, there's plenty of work to do. Hopefully that will bring in enough to tide us over, and we won't lose the house.

But, if a church pastorate comes open this summer, how wonderful that would be! Moving again -- I'm not excited about it. But I'm willing. I think that's what God wants us to be.