Recently...

I know, it's been a while, but here goes...

Meredith has gotten a job at CVS. This is a blessing. At this point, it is part time, but we're hoping that it will grow in to full time soon. If not full time, at least full time hours.

A major new thing with us-- We have recently joined the ranks of the Christ Episcopal Church choir here in Charlotte. We have fallen in love with their music making each week. We attended a service, a week ago Sunday and knew that we had arrived to a place that we could really call our own. This is unique for us. Since we have been married, we have worked at two different churches. It is priceless that we can worship together, sing together, talk about the service together. We are so thankful that God has given us this opportunity.

I feel like I have been learning a new lesson these days... You may have learned it if you have been my age... being happy with less than ideal circumstances. I am learning that you never get what you really expected. A lot of times you don't even know what you want much less what you want to expect. Sometimes you have to be happy with what you have and learn to complain less. Gosh, will this be such a task for me! Most people know that I love to complain. School is fine, don't get me wrong. I do feel like I am learning and growing. I am certainly putting myself out there to grow. However, an idealist like me is always looking to a brighter future, and sometimes that future is realized in a more realistic way rather than the bright and bubbly idealism that I had hoped. "Yes, Cody, you can go to school, but you also have to work a couple (or three) jobs, deal with people in all situations that may not be as motivated as you are, and get to know the new people in your life and establish yourself musically and professionally." This isn't easy. No one ever said it would be... I want to learn the lesson of being happy with what I have and living in the moment. I look around and people of all ages are learning this lesson with me, it seems.

The Lord is truly risen! This truth endures for ever!

We're settling in fine in our first week in Fort Mill. Actually, we are settling in as fine as we need to for this temporary location. I began work last night at The Children's Place. I can't tell you how wonderful it was to work again. I felt so useful and productive. It is also nice to have a job that is in no way related to what I am very passionate about, i.e., Church and music. It allows me to not be consumed with these things and gives me a chance to free my mind.

I also have another bit of good news. I called Christ Episcopal Church in Charlotte and asked of the music director if he was hiring paid singers. Some churches do this so that they can do more challenging choral literature and have a consistent choral focus. He invited me to audition. I sang "Thus saith the Lord..." from Messiah. I sight-read some Tallis and Howells. He said that he would do some searching for money for me, and would be very happy to have me sing in his choir. He also asked me if my wife sings to which I replied, "Being in choir together is how we met." He warmly invited her to join me in a rehearsal this Thursday. So, Meredith and I could be singing in a choir together again. This is an exciting turn of events!

Meredith still hasn't found a job that will be full time. She has had two interviews with two different CVS stores that seem promising, but can't provide full time hours. Continue to pray that we can find something for her. The sooner we can find something for her, the sooner we can be on our own.

I begin school next week. I will probably have a lot to say about that when it comes! Dinner is smelling good though so I must be going!

Although this wasn't an explicitly "spiritual" writing, the truth endures that the Lord is truly risen!

We're Moved

Well, the day has come and we are here and moved. It is 4:15pm; you might be kind of surprised that we are done already. Let me bring you up to speed.

We got started about 9:30 this morning. Moving from the second floor is really tough and I hope that I don't have to do that again. I don't know how people do it who live even higher than the second floor. We realized that we were a little behind of food items and such, but nonetheless, we were out by 1:30. We also came to the realization that we had way more stuff than Meredith's dad's storage room could hold. I was really worried about what the possibilities would entail. I called the man that was letting us use the moving truck and he asked me, "are you guys just sticking this stuff in a storage locker?" I said, "that's the plan." He then told me that we could use the truck (which is a big industrial sized truck) as storage as long as we needed and he would bring the stuff down whenever we had an apartment lined up. This was a great relief to me and to our checking account! What an act of kindness! I couldn't believe that it worked out the way that it did. He was very kind to help us in this way. Not to mention the fact that I really didn't want to unload all that stuff into a storage room, just to have to do it all over again when we get something lined up.

I can't believe the goodness of God. He acts in so many wonderful ways. I am also so thankful for those that helped us move: Marie, Joseph, Cory, and my dad. Joseph and my dad just left a little bit ago and they are on their way back. I am very happy and I can't wait to get some sleep soon. God has done marvelous things!

The Lord is truly risen!

Moving Day Awaits

Just to bring you up to speed...

Meredith has come home and we have had a great couple of days together. We have had a lot of packing to do and we are almost done. Moving day is tomorrow and we are looking to load and be out by lunch time. This is my hope, but who knows if that will happen.

Small blessings this week...

Dinner with my parents last night: great conversation and a really good chicken sandwich from Wendy's (my favorite)

Time with Marie tonight

A member of Beth Eden is volunteering a moving truck!

Things that have happened since the last time I wrote...

I got a job at The Children's Place. This is a children's clothing chain. I will be working as a sales associate and it will afford me a little bit of "running money."

Meredith had an interview at CVS today and has another CVS interview next week. Things look good and she might be able to get a good deal of hours.

I was called today an offered weekly podium time at Winthrop with their large Collegiate Choir. This is a very good thing and it will give me invaluable experience.

Many good things going on. In 24 hours, we will be living with Meredith's parents. Continue to pray that we find employment that will allow us to live on our own.

God is very good and we are so excited about the future.

The Lord is truly risen!

Changing and Growing Up

First of all, let me tell the readers that I miss Meredith. She's been gone far too long. It's time for her to come back. Alas, she will be here tomorrow.

I still haven't heard back from the Children's Place. I get tired of being told that I will be contacted within a period of time and that period of time goes by and I hear nothing. However, God has taught me a lot about patience. I do try to look at this as a chance to grow in patience. One has no choice but to grow in patience when it comes to filling out applications online. If you haven't had the pleasure doing that, then you're really missing out on a blessing, as my baptist friends would say.

I was talking with a friend last night who like me has graduated from college and has struggled to adjust to grown up life. My conversations like this always left me mourning the loss of my childhood. I think about life as a kid and it seems like just yesterday my life was free of worries and challenges. However, it occurred to me in this particular conversation that my time of mourning was over. I look back at my childhood and a enjoy the memories, but the profound longing to return to those years is gone. Visiting my parents the other day, I got out of my car and smelled the freshly cut grass, a year ago this would have brought tears to my eyes (no lie). I found myself enjoying the smell for what it was and what it meant. This is so freeing to me.

There is another interesting point--Freedom. We learn and we grow, and while learning we feel bound to certain rules-- color inside the lines, keep your shirt tucked in, no elbows on the table, the seventh should always resolve down (for the musicians reading)-- but I am beginning to feel a great sense of freedom in my life and in my marriage. We have the opportunity to grow and to endure within the context of freedom. I say this the Sunday before my wife and I move into my in-laws house... paradox, huh? Freedom abounds though. All because of Christ. Thank God for Jesus!

The Lord is truly risen!

Painful dreams

I had an interview with the Children's Place today. It is a clothing store that I worked for in high school and for a year after high school. I would be working at the SouthPark Mall in Charlotte. I think I have the job. At this point, anything that brings in some money is ideal.

Meredith has two upcoming interviews with CVS at two different locations. She will be interviewing for a position in the pharmacy. Hopefully this will mean a lot of hours and decent pay. My job, however, won't be great pay, but it will be gas money and a phone bill payment at least.

Good things ahead as always.

Meredith and I were talking this week about a struggling marriage between two folks we know. As newlyweds, we don't want to think of anything like this happening to our own marriage, but we did try to think of some reasons why this marriage was struggling. I posited that it might be possible that men have chronic problem of wandering eyes and perhaps a fleeting conscience. Another thought came to my mind that I feel like is the source of many struggling relationships... a failure to cling to the end result. In the last entry, I wrote about living in the moment which I feel is very important. But, there must be a balance between living in the moment and seeking an optimal end result in your relationships with others. My relationship with Meredith is ongoing, so what is the end result? An ongoing committment fed by devotion to one another that is rooted in Christ's suffering and joy. But what about all the crap that most people have to go through in their relationships? Like, don't most people find that their greatest struggle lies with dealing with another person in some capacity?

Most people struggle with living with and serving others. As well we should. We are, afterall, a fallen people, right? We want what's best for number one, right? We must constantly self-correct, with the help of the Holy Spirit. We die to ourselves daily. We give ourselves over to those whom we love, much like Christ did for us. We empty ourselves of our wants, for the love of our brother and sister. When things look rough, when things look bleak, we identify with the suffering of Christ. Afterall, we remember that we must keep our eyes on the end result. In relationships like the one I share with Meredith, the end result is a lifetime of committment. We remember Christ in his suffering, and we share his joy, the joy of the resurrection, in good times and bad. Dreams worth going after are never easy. A child can't be born without the pain of labor. A marriage can't last without the pain (at times) of committment. A house can't be built without the pain of work and money spent. Every dream requires investment, and every investment requires a part or all of ourselves.

The dream is realized through suffering. Just like the resurrection is realized through the suffering of the cross. Clinging to the end result, as I mentioned earlier, is another way of "clinging to the resurrection power of Christ." Just another way that Christ's life is a model of humanity and the divine. Christ is before all things and in all things. This has a new meaning when we consider our incessent identification with him through suffering and joy. Take up your cross with a smile on your face. You only have one life to live and live it hard, with suffering and pain, and the ever enduring joy of the resurrection.

The Lord is truly risen!