What's New?

Hello friends! It it been several months since my last update. :-( Not for lack of things to say really.. To be honest some of the things that I wanted to talk about I purposely refused to blog about. You will understand my hesitations later on.

Last time I mentioned life and it seemingly coming in like a flood and keeping me busy. It seems to have not only NOT slowed down, it may have even increased speed.  That is somewhat good and somewhat bad. I shall explain.

If you do not follow me on social media, on July 20th, we announced that we were going to have a child via a YouTube clip.  You can find the announcement video here. I had been hesitant to really blog about it because of our previous loss. I assume that it was mostly fear about letting myself get excited about it then something tragic happen again, taking my joy again. I am weird in that manner, yes, but we are definitely talking about this exciting time now. :-)

On August 18th, we then revealed the gender with an illusion, because we thought it would be a cute exercise in my amateur illusionist talents. That video can be found here.

Then finally, after much thought and consideration we picked a name. A week later on October 3, we share our child's name with everyone via yet another YouTube video. Feel free to watch it before continuing.

So now that you are caught up with our latest news of awesome, let's review some other happenings. 

Work: I did eventually get converted to a 'permanent' employee and got the raise and benefits associated with that.  That's awesome, its busy and its work. I did move out of the dusty dungeon-like location I was originally located in to a nicer, yet more open, cubicle space with a great window view. It is a little further drive, but I like the location a bit more. I'm hoping to catch the next opening at the downtown location, which is a beautiful location and would be a much much shorter drive.  Time will tell.

Writing: Despite not keeping up with my blog, I have been able to focus a little more time on writing. I do hope to finish a rough draft of my first book before my child arrives. I may even start writing some articles too, that way I will have a sort of established base of 'being published' ahead of time.  I am very passionate on many topics and could easily "word-vomit" about any of those topics, however I would want any of my writings to be more than just a heartfelt rant or brain dump. I hope to be inspiring, informative and well written. Time will tell. :-)

Housing: With the soon coming arrival of our child, we have to move. We have looked at our budget, and after weeping a little, we know our price-range and will be looking extensively to be moved in by December. Help us pray about that.

Education: When I first learned about our blessed gift from the Lord, I thought that my plans to further my education were gone. I still do have a passion to further my education so that I can provide for my growing family better (by getting a better job). We will be prayerfully considering how to proceed, especially since every job I've looked at require a BA or BS.

Life is in full swing...but then, isn't it always? ;-)

Until next time,
TRP

Where Have I Been?

To be quite honest, I am a horrible blogger.  Not that I do not try to utilize vocabulary or wit, but it is my inconsistency of steady posts.  As with many other things, consistency is the key.  So pushing forward...Allon-sy!

To be fair though, this time around life came rushing in flooding all around me, keeping me quite busy. However, this  is mostly a good thing. I've got some great updates to share, and I hope to spend some time telling you about what  has transpired in the last few months.

First off, we have a 'new' car! We acquired a white 2007 Honda Accord with roughly twelve-thousand miles on it.  This  was at a ridiculously low price of $5,000. Words cannot express how greatly appreciative I am for this amazing blessing. It did need about $400 worth of repairs and maintenance to have it ready to roll, but that is a small price to pay to have this blessing.

What about the 2004 Chevy, you ask? We still have it, however we are trying to sell it. It will be a tough sell with all that is wrong with it, unless a grease-monkey would like a fixer-uper. I need to actually call a couple people back about that actually. I have three people that have been interested, so, hopefully to sell it soon.

My reading has slowed down again. I think I've only read one book since my last post. Unfortunately, I've also picked up a few more books. Once I adjust to my new schedule (more on that in a bit), I plan on getting back into the reading swing.  As I've said before, no new ones for a while until caught up.  By caught up, I think going through at least one of the three piles of "read soon" books. :-)

Now why do I have a new schedule? That would be because I have a new job. I've moved on from a 'safe' job with a company that I worked with for nearly nine years and pushed into the unknown  [insert super scared face here].  I am very happy to have shaken off the shackles of retail bondage. I've moved to an entry-level corporate IT contract position. The company I work for has me assigned to a fortune 10 company.  I am making about 25% more than I was previously. This job has better hours, better pay and some freedom that I've not had before.

What is really cool about this job, is that it is not the same mundane thing every single day.  Each day comes with new challenges and IT problems I have yet to encounter.  I am free to think about creative resolutions that get things back up and running as quickly as possible.  I have to put a lot of effort into learning more of the network/server resolutions.  It is more than reimaging and swapping parts....Gone are the days of 'grade school IT,' I've moved on up to the 'junior high' level. LOL   Honestly, I thoroughly enjoy it.  There are many perks that I will worry about later, but the big thing right now is that I am home before 5pm on the average day. This frees me up a bit more to spend time with my wife, spend time ministering in ways that I've not had much time for in recent years and more time for studying.

Speaking of studying, with this extra time and extra cash, I've been seriously considering heading back to school.  Yes, I know I've said that before but I think I've actually decided on which school. If all goes well, I would be able to take credits from there as well as from my AAS, and apply those toward a BA at another school for much cheaper than jumping straight to that other school.  It is the middle of a semester now, so I still have some time to work that out.

Then there is the desire to move.  We have both wanted to move for a good while now, but I know she REALLY wants to move soon, I'm going to put some serious thought and prayer into it. It isn't going to happen until I've been at my new job for 90-days (when insurance gets cheaper and a potential raise happens), but it helps to plan ahead.

I had more thoughts, but they have escaped, so I will wrap this one up.

Until Next Time,
TRP

 Running On Spiritual E

"Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands." - 2 Timothy 1:6

Anyone that has ever run out of gas knows how time consuming, not to mention how frustrating it can be. While I can't say I ever remember running out while driving, I've seen many a people walking from or to their vehicle carrying a gas can. I do have to admit, I have coasted up to the fuel pumps a time or two because I tried to put it off, fit more miles in my day than I had gallons in my tank. After all, 'there is always later.'

The same thing can happen in our spiritual lives. We face so many situations and so many battles our days get cluttered and we push to tomorrow things we wanted or even needed to do today. All the while we do not take the time to refuel our tanks, spiritual.

My 'new' car has a little orange light that comes on just before the needle gets to E. The manual states that at this point there is roughly 1.2 gallons in the reserve tank. This is the first warning sign my car gives me. Like-wise, there are warning signs when we are nearing spiritual empty.

Our time 'reading' the Word is replaced with listening to it or sermons, or cut out entirely. Prayer time is reduced to complaining or demanding of God, if we even speak to Him at all. Our giving and attendance is not a priority as we reason to our selves that we don't need it all or things can get by without us. We don't get involved with ministry or project 'x' because we are occasionally involved with 'y,' and that's all we feel we need to do. This is the little orange light of burn out, spiritual empty is on its way.

My car's orange light flashes if the needle reads half way through the thick red line marked E, meaning there is a half-gallon left. Essentially, telling me that I've squeezed all I can out, I'd better refuel or there will be consequences.

Paul said to Timothy to stir up the gift; another translation says to fan into flames the spark. I don't know where your spiritual needle is, whether it is beyond full and you can go for a long while before the needle even moves, or whether that burn out light is flashing and you barely sputtered in today. Let me encourage you with the words of Jesus in Matthew chapter 11, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” Don't give up! Refuel today!

-TRP

 Developing Our Christian Character

 

"He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" - Micah 6:8

As I pondered this verse, I thought about the human condition that, by carnal nature, we do not like rules or requirements. However, the Word of God does speak to us of many rules and requirements. We know there are requirements of the New Birth, the fulfillment of Acts 2 in our own lives, as some would say 'how to become a Christian.' But the Bible also speaks to the requirements of the Christian lifestyle, or in other words, how to stay a Christian AND grow deeper in Christ.

I would submit to you today that while this is a life long process, the key to growing in Christ begins with developing your Christian Character. Developing your character is not likely an overnight change. For most it is a process that will be slow starting, but it is a life long process for all. We must never stop growing.

First of all, I believe that our character is birthed out of what we feed ourselves. For this reason it is very important to have a strong spiritual diet of both personal and family devotion time. By devotion, I mean time of prayer and time of studying scripture. It is from this precious time, that we develop the Christian character that God would like us to have.

In reading our verse, I see the staples of Christian character; the things that God requires of us. To Do Justly: To act toward both God and man according to the standards of righteousness, Godliness and holiness as revealed in scripture.  To Love Mercy: To show a compassionate warm-heartedness toward man, modeling behavior that fosters forgiveness, safety and peace within the confines of scripture. To Walk Humbly With Your God: Keeping God first, others second and self last, thus displaying selfless service and Christ-like humility.

I truly believe that if we as individuals develop these staples of Christian character in our lives, not only will we grow in God, but we will grow others around us in Him as well. So friends, I challenge us to grow together in our Christian walk in 2014.

-TRP

Looking Into Tresorit

I am really enjoying using Tresorit and if you sign up by clicking this link you get an extra 500mb for joining (and so do I, so help a brother out).

What is Tresroit? Simply put, encrypted cloud storage/sync. Think Dropbox/GoogleDrive/UbuntuOne/SkyDrive but with encryption. With the whole lack of privacy revelations of late, this might be a great option for you. I enjoy it because of the amount of space I have (could fit all my other storage/sync accounts in this folder and still have room left over).

Another great plus is they now have Android, iOS and Mac clients to go along with their Windows client....if you still use Windows that is. ;-)



 Check it out and enjoy!  

-TRP