move – Page 7 – A Liddle Good News

This old house … ugh

In Wycliffe, anytime one is in the process of getting a new assignment – whether it’s the first one or not – there are periods of slooow progress toward one’s goal. Now is one of those times for us.

Katherine and I groan inwardly and outwardly when we look around us at our house. There’s something to be said for those religious orders that renounce materialism and worldly possessions (just see Matthew 6:19-21). Stuff reproduces and multiplies faster than rabbits, and some of it attaches to human sentiment like tar. And we have to deal with all of it, in one way or another, before we can move.

Please, oh please, pray for God to put a fire in us to go through our home and separate our belongings:

Sell
Give away
Store
Take to Germany

Some of this sorting needs to happen so that I can get to work on putting down a new laminate floor in the dining area, family room, living room, and hallway. There’s lots of painting to do, as always, so all the pictures and shelves have to come down, too. (So pray that we’re able to keep the fumes from stirring up the boys’ asthma; pulling up the vinyl floor didn’t do any of us much good.)

Now that was a nice segue to the next prayer request. Katherine has looked at a local health insurance option in Germany and thinks that it may be a better fit for us there than the plan we’re on through Wycliffe. We’re still collecting information at this point, but we need to be wise and discerning in our final choice – health care is a big deal for just about everybody.

And yet, the Man said, “… do not worry ….” (Matthew 6:31-34) – so I guess we won’t!

Chipping away at the future

So here’s a report on our preparing to go to Germany:

Despite uncertainty in the housing market, our Realtor – the fellow who helped us buy our house – doesn’t think that we’ll have a problem selling it. I’m working on replacing the flooring in the family room, living room, and hallway, which he agrees will help the house’s appeal. It’s really nice to finally tear up what I’m certain is the most hideous vinyl pattern on the planet. If you don’t believe me, I can mail you a sample.

One big task that we face is figuring out where the boys will go to school. Not only does it have the obvious effect on their education, but it will also determine where we live. Katherine and I are collecting information on what it would be like for them to go to local German schools – we’re writing and talking to people who have done the same thing, writing to school leaders, and learning more about the school system. My prayers about this matter always revolve around getting accurate information and resisting the development of an unreasonable bias toward one option.

After we make this decision, it’ll be easier to formulate a budget for our ministry in Germany so that we know how our current financial support stacks up against what we’ll need there. Before we go, we’ll need to seek out the people God has set apart to complete the funding of our ministry. In fact, Wycliffe won’t clear us to leave the U.S. until we are fully supported – that’s one of the ways they look after the best interests of their members. Jesus thought it common sense that a person would make sure that he could finish a project before starting it (Luke 14:28-30). Our ministry is no different.

My out-of-office experience

A while back, I wrote about my department’s need to move out of our building so that parts of it could be renovated. It’s now Week 3 in our new location, and I have to report that all is going pretty well. Choosing what tools and resources to bring with me was difficult, but I believe that I now have everything that I need to do 99% of the work that I do.

Aside from the limited resources, the only negative aspect to our little office is the fact that we’re positioned right over the main entrance to the building. There’s a buzzer in the door that sounds when it’s been left open for a little too long – about five seconds. If it continues to remain open, then an alarm sounds. Most of the visitors to the Helpdesk comment on how annoying it must be. I won’t disagree with them.

There are two positive elements to our location, one of which will get only a passing mention. We have a very nice view of Joe Pool Lake through the large window that forms one side of the room. That window is right in front of me, so I get to look out at the water all day long.

The other good part is the exposure that we’re getting to all of the people who work in the Key building, the largest on campus. The Helpdesk is very easy to find now, being at the top of the main staircase. Many more people have commented on the convenience of our location than have mentioned the annoying buzzer. Our colleagues are enjoying the new access they have to us and our services.

For me, that means that I am often much busier than I have been in my regular workspace. However, that increased work typically involves answering questions and solving small problems that a person would not normally bring to our attention. In the long term, being available to help with the small matters now will reduce the number of big problems that folks experience, since we “headed them off at the pass”. I’m finding that a five-minute walk to another building can make a big difference.

The effect that our presence here has created causes me to wonder if it wouldn’t be helpful to either: a) continue the presence of one or two people in this building, or b) hold a regular “urgent care clinic” for computer users each day during specified hours. The key concept is to maintain our accessibility. What do you think? Let me know by posting your comments.

P.S. I would like to publicly thank my friends, Loren and Kensey Ledebuhr, for their gift of an extensive, portable toolkit; it has proven to be invaluable in our new situation. As for them, they’re somewhere in remote Papua New Guinea learning how to live without electricity, so I have no idea when they’ll see this post.