1. I never thought I’d go to seminary and figured it was only for pastors or missionaries
2. I’m finally going to school for something I really want to do.
3. I’m going for a Masters in Media and Communication
4. One of my classes is Creative Writing!
5. I hope to one day work for a church doing Audio, Video and Web & Graphic design

For the last year I’ve been supporting myself with Web and Graphic design and I finally realized that this is something I’m good at and that I love. I used to kind of think of myself as a “Hack” that could put together some nice graphics, but not great graphics. Well, without any schooling at all I’ve landed multiple jobs and I’ve made a lot of money and so I decided to give up the “I’m not that good” act and just start really pursuing this career path.

God made me creative – actually, he made us all creative, I think we just don’t realize our own creativity. Some of us approach problems in creative ways that lead to brilliant solutions while others may build things with their hands or organize things well. Just because it’s not a piece of art doesn’t mean that you aren’t creative. If we are all created in the image of God then I think we all have some of his creativity – some just tap into it easier than others.

So here I am at 34 working for a church, doing web & graphic design and living back in Denton, TX near all my friends and family. It is a great feeling to be doing exactly what you love and I’m honored that I get to be part of such a great educational institution like DTS to further my career and creativity all while learning more about God. Does it get any better? I don’t think so.

In His Grip,

Eddo

Currently I’m working for Denton Bible Church as a part-time Youth Pastor and Creative Arts Director in the Student Ministries. It’s awesome and challenging in ways I never dreamed and that is the part I love and hate the most.

I think human nature is to gravitate towards things that come easy for us – and if not human nature, definitely my nature. I don’t like having to call out to God for help. I want to do it all myself – or rather that used to be me. I was so independent, I wanted all the credit and glory and was even willing to accept the fallout if there was a problem. How immature. Now I realize that asking for help is a sign of maturity. Reaching out to God and friends and family when in need is what we are supposed to do. People like to feel needed – I’ve decided I like being helped.

I’ve got to bounce for now, but I want to say thanks to all the friends that read Posted Note and drop me notes of encouragement or have open debates in my comments section. It blesses me to see that we can respect each other’s beliefs and decisions and at the same time try to better understand them and in the end maybe better understand ourselves.

Much Love.

What I can say is most significant is that 5 years ago I was working at Texas Instruments and now I’m working for Denton Bible Church in Denton, DJing with my business http://www.soundandshow.com and working doing web and graphic design. All three of these jobs pay what my 1 job at Texas Instruments paid – if I really work hard, but it does not provide the insurance and the security that the TI job did. It also is not boring like the TI job was.

Today I am painting my house that is currently up for sale and hopefully in a month from now I’ll be blogging that it has sold, because it is putting me in a serious financial bind.

In a moment of panic I put all my stuff up for sale and sent out an email asking about 50 friends for help. Within 48 hours I had raised close to $2000 – I nice dent in the $6000 that I needed to raise so my house would not foreclose.

Over the next few days there was an outpouring of love, prayers and generosity from family and friends and believe it or not, I raised $6000. Most of that was in new business that came as a direct result of my cry for help. But some of which came from friends and a big chunk from family and a few items of furniture that I sold.

It took me the last year and a half to get into this final situation. Problems with debt don’t normally happen over night and after being laid off January 2009 I have managed to earn a lot of money and lose a lot of money in various investments, clients who didn’t pay and just poor decisions.

What I’ve realized is that you have to be vigilant when it comes to funds. Being giving is nice, but it’s a mistake when you aren’t taking care of your own responsibilities. Just because one month you are flush with cash and you have jobs galore lined up does not mean that those jobs won’t fall through or that unforseen expenses won’t pop up like a ravenous mouse and devour all your cheddar.

So to those of you that prayed and donated and purchased and hired – I cannot begin to thank you enough. You made a seemingly insurmountable situation nothing more than a mole hill. I’m extremely grateful and please know that I am here if you need me. (But please hold those needs until July so I can get caught up on all this work that I just got!)

I honestly believe my conversion was real, but for most of my youth I believed that Salvation was something that could be lost and so I repeatedly prayed to receive Christ and “recommitted” my life to Christ at several church camps.

It wasn’t until I started attending Denton Bible Church in the 8th grade that I learned that salvation is a free gift that is not earned or deserved. Ephesians 2:8,9 It is not something that is given and then taken away. If salvation could be lost then it would mean that my righteousness was what was keeping me saved – and clearly that is not the case.

Salvation comes when we confess with our mouth and believe in our heart that Jesus Christ is Lord. Romans 10:9, John 3:16

Encountering God is something that is life-changing and having received Christ at such a young age I often took his grace and security for granted. It has taken me years to truly begin to appreciate who he is in my life and my desire to attend seminary is to better understand him and his word.

I setup Google Checkout for a client and then our account was suspended because Google was unable to verify our 501c3 account status. We faxed over the documentation and still 10 days later we still don’t have a resolution. Customers can’t register and I am frustrated with Google’s lack of response.

But it appears this is business as usual with Google.

See what others have had to say here:

http://www.pack-net.co.uk/blog/google-checkout-account-has-been-suspended

This is on Google’s own support forum.

So I could spend hours listing all the complaints, but the consensus is – DON’T USE GOOGLE CHECKOUT – and if you do, have a backup plan in place.

Things You Should Know Now

1. Learn to think for yourself
a. Often times we let our friends or culture tell us what we should think or believe – be sure that you do your own research and to not take anything at face value unless it comes from a very reliable source.
2. Be Grounded
a. Mentally – Do you ever struggle with depression? Highs and Lows?
b. Spiritually – Do you have a church? Do you know where you will go when you die? Do you believe in Heaven/Hell?
c. Emotionally – How are your relationships? How do you react when you are upset?
d. Financially – Are you saving your money and spending wisely?
e. Physically – are you taking care of your body? Your teeth?
3. Sex
a. Sex is a gift and should be treated as something special between two people that are married.
b. Culture, television and media will try to devalue sex and make it something that is recreational and that should be done like dancing or playing sports. But it is much more emotional and physical and dangerous.
4. Pornography
a. Is addictive
b. Will subtract – not add from your physical relationships
c. Can be a destructive trap that keeps you from living in reality and leave you always wanting more than what is actually possible.
5. Drugs and Alcohol
a. Even after you are 21 there is a large emphasis on using alcohol to have a good time. It really isn’t necessary and can become a crutch for some people.
b. Alcohol, like many things in life, can be fun, but becomes dangerous when people are stupid
c. Drugs are illegal and addictive – but you probably already know this! The point is sometimes it is more fun to do them because they are illegal, but they will really only limit you from reaching your goals
6. Dream Big
a. Things rarely just happen, if you want something, take small steps to get there and eventually you will.

7. Failure teaches us more than Success
a. When we fail it means we are really challenging ourselves. If you win all the time you aren’t getting any better, you aren’t growing and you will become lazy and arrogant all the while your competition is getting stronger
8. Don’t limit yourself or allow other to limit you
a. If you want to try something, try it, don’t let fear hold you back
b. Be constantly looking for new opportunities to excel
9. Be Humble
a. No one likes arrogant people
b. Know the difference between confidence and arrogance

10. Be Unselfish
a. It really is much better to give than to receive
b. Participate in your community, give back, help others
c. Life can be depressing if all we focus on is our own wants and needs. Real fulfillment comes from helping others.

I want things to happen on my schedule.

I don’t want to be patiently waiting on the Lord when I know that he has everything under control.

I’d like to be a big whiney baby… but I’ve learned that gets you no where and in the end you only feel foolish for not trusting in the Lord. But knowing what’s right doesn’t make it any easier to do. Knowing what’s right doesn’t make me any less impatient.

The crazy thing is my house is nice and I know when I leave I’ll be a little bit sad to lose such a great home, but I’ll be so glad to be free of that burden. I think possessions become so cumbersome that I rarely find myself wanting anything new these days – which might be one of the many positives that come out of this whole experience.

So yeah, 55 days and 29 showings…

This is a piece of info from Wikipedia about Edvard Munch’s “The Scream”.

In a page in his diary headed Nice 22.01.1892, Munch described his inspiration for the image thus:
“I was walking along a path with two friends — the sun was setting — suddenly the sky turned blood red — I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence — there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city — my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety — and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.”

Perhaps he sensed the rocks crying out to God…

What they don’t tell you when you are starting your house projects is that not only are all those materials to remodel your house expensive – there is also the expense of buying hammers, nails, paint brushes, screws, ladders, drills, saws, tape, drop cloths, putty knifes… and the list goes on and on. When I left Home Depot after purchasing paint for 3 rooms and all the materials the bill was $894.00. Yep. And that was just for the living room, dining room and kitchen.

Something else you may not know even after watching hours upon hours of HGTV is that you should not paint your house and then buy furniture – it is the other way around. First – find a piece of art or a focal point in the room and then build your entire room around it. A great painting, a rug, a sofa, some throw pillows – all of these things can be great inspiration. But DO NOT go to the paint store with a vision in your head and buy gallons of paint that you have not tested on your walls in your rooms in various light. I made that mistake and consequently I have a garage full of colorful paint that looked beautiful in Home Depot but hideous on my walls.

Secondly – it is a nightmare trying to decide on a contractor or repairman to do any small or large jobs. There are too many to choose from and thankfully we now have Angieslist.com to help protect the consumer from shoddy Handymen that recently lost their job as a computer support technician and decided that a new career in home remodeling would be a good source of revenue.

Thirdly – when you buy your house they do not tell you that when you sell it that it cost about 8% to sell it. So if your house cost $100,000 then there is going to be a minimum of $8,000 to sell. Sure I knew there would be the 6% that would go to the realtors, but the bank gets some money for handling all that paperwork and the transferring of funds. When I found out it would cost me $12,ooo to sell my house for $150,000 imagine my disappointment when I realized that this would just make me break even. It takes about 5 years for you to put any dent in your mortgage as well as for it to appreciate and so when you buy your house don’t think you can just hop in and out of it with ease – unless you live in a hot real estate market like California or Hawaii.

Fourthly – Don’t even get me started on landscaping and yard maintenance costs. When you go to the store to buy a pallet of flowers you can easily drop $50 bucks and barely have enough flowers to even show up in your front yard. In order to really make a noticeable difference in your front yard look to spend at least $500 – otherwise you are just improving what is already there or sparsely furnishing your front yard with just enough greenery to make your house look like a home instead of a crack house.

Fifthly, when you do decide to buy your first place, find out what your budget is and then plan on going a few hundred less than what you think you can afford on your mortgage because while your rate is fixed, your taxes aren’t. Your insurance isn’t and both of those items can increase your mortgage by $200-$300.  Imagine my surprise and mortification when I found out that I had received an escrow review and my mortgage payments would jump from $1,167 to $1,454. Yeah. It was not pleasant.

Lastly, that insulation in the attic that you didn’t think was that important… it is. Those windows that look old and tired, they are, they are tired of keeping cool air in or hot air out and therefore your air-conditioner will be working overtime and you may end up with a consistent year-round bill of $300 a month. Sound crazy… it is. And trying to argue with the electric company is a lesson in futility.

Hopefully all of these tips will prove useful to you when you are house-hunting.