Having a true hope in Christ is something that I have always been taught about in Sunday School, church camp and sermons. For many years, I didn't realize exactly what that meant. Once I started understanding it more, I had a hard time explaining it. to folks. The past few years I used the expression "a quiet, confident joy" to explain my hope in Christ. I read that in another devotional and loved it!
Today's devotional has two sentences that I love:
The hope we read about in Scripture is not a vague, wishy-washy optimism. Instead, biblical
hope is a strong and confident expectation that what God has promised in His Word He will accomplish.
Wow! I couldn't have said it better myself! hehehe We have all seen vague, wishy-washy optimism. It is sort of like a poorly designed or built levee -- it falls away at the first sign of a flood! God WILL accomplish what he promised! No, we are not to pout around until we get the things that God promised. We are to continue serving him as best we can regardless of our circumstances. Amen!
Lord, thank you for your promises. I want a quiet, confident joy in the knowledge that you will fulfill your promises. Thank you!
Witness Wednesday
I am going to write about my 40's in two separate entries -- pre-breakup and post-breakup. My life has been very, very different in each phase.
Pre-breakup Years
I started my 40's by moving from Louisville to the Cincinnati area for what I thought was a cool job. Lots of opportunity for growth. Opportunity for travel. More money. The 3.5 years in Cincinnati were odd at best. There were too many ups and downs to write about! I sang with the Cincinnati Mens Chorus on and off during my time there. I had three jobs in 3.5 years, which was ODD! I had a wonderful house in a wonderful neighborhood even though it was out in the boonies!
My ex and I struggled making friends because we lived so far away from town. It was a 35 mile drive to downtown Cincy and about 45 miles to where our closest friends lived in Northern Kentucky. We spent a lot of time to ourselves. We spent a lot of our social time with my ex's friends from school since they lived much closer than our gay friends. It was odd...
In 2002, my grandmother passed away. That was a very difficult time for me in many ways. I was out of work at the time. My ex was hoping I would find a job sooner rather than later. We both hoped we wouldn't have to move again, even though I interviewed in Columbus for the same job that eventually brought me here.
My last job in Cincy was a horrible experience for me. I was there for 18 months. My manager made the experience what it was. I knew I was in trouble from the first interview. After being at the company for three weeks, a total stranger came up to me and said "I am sorry you are having such a negative experience here. It is not that way everywhere in the company". Wow! After struggling to fit in for 18 months, I finally got the job I wanted in Columbus. I moved my ex yet again from a stable job environment to a new place. It was very difficult for him.
We settled in very quickly after we moved to Columbus. We had already made some friends before we moved here. It was very cool. It felt very right. The new job was going great. I was having a great experience at work, at home and socially. Life was good!
A few years after we moved to Columbus, I started to realize that I had doubts about my relationship. We had been together about nine years at that point. I am a stubborn man. I didn't want to give up easily. I tried to make it work. My ex tried to make it work. We broke up in July 2007. It was the most difficult period in my life. When you can't imagine spending one more day with someone, it is difficult to actually spend the rest of your life with him. ;-( My life changed again. I knew deep in my heart breaking up was the right thing. It was so very difficult to actually do it.
Next week... Post breakup 40s...
Other stuff
Wow! I got to see the 3D version of the new Transformers movie last night! Very cool! The 3D stuff was actually pretty cool. The theater was pretty full as well. There were some other gay guys sitting behind me so I talked with them before and after the movie. I will review the movie on Monday.
I had dinner with a buddy last night. We talked for almost 1.5 hours. We had a good time.
I stopped by the Giant Eagle Marketplace in Upper Arlington on my way back downtown to see the movie. They had Red Cat and White Cat wines ON SALE! Woohooo! They only had one bottle of Red Cat the last time I was there. My dinner group drank that up in a flash! My hero asked me if I was going take some to Chicago with me this weekend. I will have to think about that...
God reminded me last night that something amazing is coming up. I also remembered that the something amazing may not be a single event, but rather my no ordinary life if I live it in Him...
Hang in there, my friends! I will be upbeat and steady. That is what I do...
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