Hello readers,
I have to confess (if I haven't already): I've all but fallen off the trail on my year-long Bible reading plan. By this point, I would likely be in the book of Acts, and maybe even some of the early letters that Paul had written. But I'm still in the Old Testament. Granted, I'm in the era of Zechariah, Zerubbabel, and Joshua the priest, so I'm pretty far through the Old Testament.
I'm not here to announce that I'm giving up on the Bible reading plan. In truth, I vacillate between two opposing decisions daily. One day, I might decide I'm going to give up this plan on the spot. On the next, I'm encouraged and back to finishing the whole thing, maybe even by reading three installments a day which just might catch me up to the end of the book of Revelation by December 31st. One day, I might decide instead that I'm going to bail on the plan, but not before I at least finish the Old Testament; on the next, I might have the courage to keep going, through the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament, but may not finish until March of next year.
It has been a hard year. Then again, most years have tended to be hard. This year, it's been health challenges, a looming layoff over a period of six weeks that God reversed at the last second (praise God!!!), and a spiritual attack that had me really desiring to find a different church (I say spiritual attack because I finally met with my pastor, cleared the air, and now we have a handshake agreement to meet together once every few weeks to check in and spend time together).
October was a fun month for a change. Guess maybe I should take back what I said about, "oh, we can eliminate October. It's a dreary and downright unnecessary month. Let's just skip ahead to November." A friend from out of town visited for two weeks. We have longtime friends in common, and, as expected, gathering together was incredible, much-needed fun and support. Then, in the latter half of the month, celebrating my dad's birthday. Now that we live an hour, hour-and-a-half away from each other, the opportunities we get to gather have become that much more precious.
Life on the horizon is still uncertain. I have a verbal assurance that I will have my job until February for sure, with the possibility of an extension until next December. We'll see. I saw a purchase order on my client's portal with my employer's name on it, with the expiration date of December 31st of this year. And we are contracted to help support my client cut costs in a manner not unlike what the Department of Government Efficiency kick-started earlier this year. Moreover, my wife has begun a 2nd job as a season tax adviser for tax season next spring. We are currently working on figuring out how to work our marriage and our schedules around that commitment.
I've been asked to return to taking classes again. I'm willing; I just don't know what, and more alarmingly, I lack the desire to stick with something long-term. In 2020, I pursued a degree in accounting, took three classes, got an accounting job, and... I was hospitalized and subsequently fired. God came through with my current procurement job, with which I've recently surpassed the four-year mark. If and whenever this current job ends, God will provide another job. I mean, right when He gave me my current job back at the last minute, the other thing He did was make it completely impossible for me to apply for unemployment insurance on my state's website. I am certain that I tried at least 5 times over a span of a couple days, and was repeatedly stopped on the first step.
I want to watch how I wrap up this blog post. It has been a hard year (and really, a hard several years in a row) on multiple levels, but this year also has provided the opportunity for God to do the impossible:
- He gave me my job back and made it impossible for me to get very far in trying to collect unemployment. (And He did the second thing first, and the first thing second)
- He restored my relationship with my church and with my pastor (and with my wife, who unfortunately had to endure my grumblings).
- He gave my wife her previous job when we were told that we were both being evicted even if we didn't follow through on the wedding as planned (we had threatened to postpone the date for financial reasons).
- He gave my wife her current job within a week after leaving her previous job (which was super toxic and stressing her out to the point of causing physical pain).
- Even though it has been slow, He has even been healing my body from the health challenge that I've had for almost a year. Finally, after previous false starts (my fault completely on the relapses), I'm almost as well as I was before I first got sick last year.
God is good. In addition to proclaiming this, the other reason I wanted to write a post giving an update on my 2025 Bible reading plan is that I may or may not post any more reflections from my readings at this time. Aside from a much-higher priority of figuring out my career (I suspect I may have to change careers yet again), my attention has moved from blogging about my faith to posting about it on LinkedIn. That's a risk. Sure, there's the fear of what others might think, but even more so there's the truth that I'm now publicly witnessing on a career-specific social media platform (and not just Facebook). But it's a risk one worth taking. After all, God has always given me the jobs. Why should I worry about what bosses or hiring managers might think of me when the King of the universe rules over them? (Of course, I still need to be wise in what I say and do; this is not an invitation to engage in entitled behavior.)
Whatever you do [whatever your task may be], work from the soul [that is, put in your very best effort], as [something done] for the Lord and not for men, knowing [with all certainty] that it is from the Lord [not from men] that you will receive the inheritance which is your [greatest] reward. It is the Lord Christ whom you [actually] serve. Colossians 3:23-24, Amplified Bible translation
I close by saying additionally that I don't know what the future of this blog will be. I don't believe it would be wise for me to say officially that I'm stopping blogging, because I don't currently know that to be the case. If God drops something into my lap to post (which happens), then I'll post about it when allowed the time. But if not, then I won't.
Thanks again for joining me on this journey. If you don't know Jesus Christ as your King and Savior, I exhort you to receive Him into your life and into your heart. And if you already do, I exhort you to ensure that He truly is your King and Savior, as far too many self-professing Jesus-followers claim Him in name only but don't actually follow Him. I have to make sure that I don't fall into this trap, myself, because I've known about Him my entire life, but only well into adulthood realized that that alone isn't enough.
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; Philippians 2:12, NKJV
Until next time,
The writer for "For Everything There Is A Season."
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