Comments on: Dry

By: Camel Rider

Camel Rider — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 07:59:47 +0000

Kevin,
Man I can totally feel for you. Here’s my brief backstory. We returned from Spain in 2003 to find…no job. So I took a commission only job mortgage job ….7 months later we were over $20,000 in debt. During this time I also started part-time at a church that promised me full-time within 6 months. It didn’t happen. So I quit the mortgage business and started at Starbucks part-time, while continuing the church gig. Within another year the church job dried up (it was a church start) and I had to either look for another church gig or take what Starbucks was offering. Within a few months I was a store manager and grew to love it.

I kept leading worship at churches here and there to make other money and my wife also worked 2 part-time jobs but we stopped sinking and started climbing out. Two years later we were on the field, debt free. When I was in those years it was horrible. I felt like my identity was gone….I felt like a failure. I saw so many of my other friends succeeding in ministry and my business buddies prospering beyond belief and yet I struggled just to make it each week. Now that I’m here I’m so grateful for how God used that time in my life. My time at Starbucks changed my life…for the better. I learned more about myself and how to develop (disciple) people than I ever did from the church.

Hang in there Kevin and drink an iced double-decaf, nonfat, no whip, 2pump vanilla, 2 pump white mocha for me.

By: Kevin Bussey

Kevin Bussey — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 19:16:58 +0000

Thanks for all your responses.

Rob,

I edited the last part of your comment. Call me if you want details.

By: Rob

Rob — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 14:55:14 +0000

“Living God’s Word” by Waylon Moore has been extremely helpful to me lately. Perhaps you and Cass could go through this study together. I have found the focus in Waylon’s writing to be refreshing as I sometime struggle with “dark nights of the soul.” Tell Cass hello.
Blessings!

By: Francoise

Francoise — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 10:12:53 +0000

I suggest that you watch the TV news of the horrors currently unfolding in Haiti. Women are being torn to shreds in razor wire as the crowds surge to obtain food for their starving children. Compared to those poor creatures, we in USA and Australia are very fortunate indeed. Then, give something to the appeals. It matters not how small or large the donation. Once you have given, you’ll know that you are well off.

By: Mrs. Osipov

Mrs. Osipov — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 21:08:19 +0000

Yep, the economy is doing terrible . . . the past 7 years has been eyeopening. And people are losing their homes. Such happy times. Maybe I should apologize for my attitude but I think we’ll continue on the same path if we elect another republican. Say what you will about Bill Clinton - uh, seems like his private life is his (and God’s) business (like Gov. Palin) - but the economy wasn’t in the toilet.

By: rolanda

rolanda — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 19:27:34 +0000

Sounds like you just ministered to yourself. That is the awesome thing about blogging/online journaling, you can vent your feelings and in the end find some resolve, some strength. You gave yourself a little pick me up in writing it, and I am sure others as well.

You have the perspective that you need. Deep breathe, get up, do it again, live the dream, if it’s not your perfect “dream”, pretend…

Godspeed!

rolanda’s last blog post..This is really gonna hurt Sarah Palin?

By: Neil

Neil — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 13:47:01 +0000

Kevin, I prayed for rest, wisdom and opportunities for you!

Neil’s last blog post..Weekly roundup

By: jonathan

jonathan — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 13:29:50 +0000

This quote from Malcolm Muggaridge always speaks to me:
“It is not unusual for living to suddenly lose all savour. Bunyan, Tolstoy, Wesley and innumerable others passed through this mood. In each case, the mood was the same-all the things that are supposed to give delight ( money, sensuality, food, success, etc.) lose their savour, become pointless, futile. Then comes this thirst for eternity. Oh, this terrible thirst! ‘God!’ they cry out or ‘Woe!’, and long for solitude. In solitude Eternity is a little less remote than amidst the distractions of the world. Perhaps they break in the struggle, then more utterly lost then before. But if they come through the struggle they are listened too. Their voices demand and get a hearing.”

By: Camey

Camey — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 12:57:00 +0000

You know, Kev? Wednesday I was dog tired… I had spent 12 hours at the physical church building.. talked to over 500 plus people personally. On the way back to the house that night - I waaaaassssssss spent.

Yesterday, a woman called the physical church building to talk with me in response to something I said to her on Wednesday night. What she said I’ll leave between the two of us except to say this…. I would do Wednesday all over again.

One of the things Bro G does that I so greatly appreciate is sending me text messages throughout the day or calls just to say hello and I love you. Of course - there is that dancing thing too.
Camey’s last blog post..When the axe fell….

By: AskAnAtheist.org

AskAnAtheist.org — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 12:38:02 +0000

Hang in there, Kevin. I’ve had to work through some very tough times too. I didn’t realize it then while I was in the middle of it, but looking back on it now, the thing that really made it hard was wishing that I was doing something else, wishing things were easier, wishing I wasn’t dog tired all the time. Since those bad times, I’ve realized that it isn’t about the destination, its about the journey. The journey is where you are now and what you are doing now, not what you hope to accomplish or where you hope to be in the future. Drink in every experience as it comes, charish every minute - don’t let a single moment go by unappreciated.

Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional.