{"id":2120,"date":"2013-02-01T12:21:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-01T12:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/02\/think-think-think.html"},"modified":"2013-02-01T12:21:00","modified_gmt":"2013-02-01T12:21:00","slug":"think-think-think","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/02\/think-think-think.html","title":{"rendered":"Think, think, think"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
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Have you ever come to a point in your life where you realize you\u2019re heading toward a cliff and see no\u00a0conceivable\u00a0way to avoid it? Like maybe you spent your adult life as a full time vocational\u00a0Protestant\u00a0minister, and then suddenly entered the Catholic Church on the eve of the greatest economic downturn since the great depression while living in a post-9\/11 society of\u00a0increasingly\u00a0secular and anti-religious\u00a0sensitivities? \u00a0 Well, I have. \u00a0We limped along with me either getting temp jobs here or contract positions there, or spending time off helping with our newborn gift of Catholic living and my Dad in the last months of his life. \u00a0Then a year ago last\u00a0December, \u00a0the hammer blow fell as my wife, who was our only steady financial and benefits lifeline, was terminated by a computer program in New York City that wiped out about 500 positions in a microsecond. \u00a0Most of last year was living off savings or whatever our good Uncle Sam threw our way. \u00a0Some individuals in Catholic parishes and organizations have swept in to bail is out when we drove too near the cliff, but as wonderfully generous as those individuals were, they were\u00a0only\u00a0moments for momentary needs. They bought us time, but only that.<\/p>\n

Now, as it comes to my attention that there could be something in my rather\u00a0bizarre\u00a0looking past that is\u00a0hamstringing\u00a0my\u00a0efforts, and in light of the fact that we went full blown and pulled our boys out to\u00a0home school,\u00a0 we\u2019re trying to think outside the box. \u00a0It was already tough enough, since most of my references and past work experience came from sources that more or less see my conversion to Catholicism with all the adoration that they would a pastor who ran off with a church\u00a0secretary\u00a0after\u00a0embezzling\u00a0from the\u00a0congregational\u00a0treasure chest. \u00a0Finding out that the already limited background I can turn to is now smaller yet, the walls are\u00a0beginning\u00a0to close on me, and options drying out.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not for lollygagging or a lack of trying. \u00a0One thing I can do is navigate through the application process with my eyes closed. \u00a0I\u2019ve filled out so many different apps I could give classes. \u00a0It\u2019s just that, in our present economy and employment situations, I don\u2019t have the 100%. \u00a0My resume takes a certain golly gee wiz to translate it into secular terms. \u00a0And, as I\u2019ve said before, I\u2019ve spent seven years pounding on the gates of Canossa with the diocese and local parishes, and here I am. \u00a0So it\u2019s time to think outside the box, and do so quickly. <\/p>\n

I would hate to lose our home, as it\u2019s all we have left. \u00a0But we\u2019re coming to a\u00a0point\u00a0where we\u2019re ready to consider any options. \u00a0I mean, we\u2019re talking move to Africa if we have to. \u00a0Uproot. \u00a0Open a business. \u00a0I don\u2019t know. \u00a0I just know the cliff is inching ever closer. \u00a0Some generosity from our\u00a0brethren\u00a0and sistren in Christ bought us a few more months, and again, our good Uncle Sam continues to do his part. \u00a0But unless there is really some big position out there I\u2019ve not discovered, something outside my creativity will have to happen. \u00a0As bad as our incomes seemed in our ministry days, and as low as my wife\u2019s salary was given her responsibilities and position, we\u2019ve come to realize there is no way in hell we\u2019ll get a job even close to that. \u00a0And with homeschooling, we really both can\u2019t work anyway. \u00a0So it\u2019s past manna from heaven time. \u00a0That\u2019s what we\u2019ve had for seven years. \u00a0Against all odds, we\u2019re still here. \u00a0But if that is something we will be able to say next year, we\u2019re talking burning bush directions, road to Damascus stuff. So we will continue to think and pray, and any ideas or prayers will certainly be appreciated.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever come to a point in your life where you realize you\u2019re heading toward a cliff and see no\u00a0conceivable\u00a0way to avoid it? Like maybe you spent your adult life as a full time vocational\u00a0Protestant\u00a0minister, and then suddenly entered the Catholic Church on the eve of the greatest economic downturn since the great depression […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThink, think, think<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Have you ever come to a point in your life where you realize you're heading toward a cliff and see no conceivable way to avoid it? 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