Plan "B"

Well, 5 pm came and went without any phonecalls from my realtor, so I called him and left a message. Then, I called him again about an hour later. He eventually called back to tell me that he went by the office but found no faxes and no messages about my counter offer. Fine. At least now I had some idea of where I'm supposed to live. I scared off the one and only buyer that was interested in my property at a sacrificial price. I couldn't trace His hand, but I would trust His heart, and I'd stay where I was.

Then, around 8:30, my realtor called again. He called the buyers agent to see what was going on. She stated that the buyer was going to agree to the terms, but was on vacation. She said that he'd sign the papers when he returned on Monday. So, I'm sort of in escrow. [yippie] The situation is very fragile right now, and I won't know for sure until I'm on my second cup of espresso on the Piazza San Marco.

Now, the question becomes, "Where will You have me?" I really like Morgan Hill, as long as I'm lead to remain in this area. I want to live in a smaller town that also happens to be closer to my church. This sort of living reminds me of something someone told me a few months ago. "You're letting that book tell you how to live."

-Amen

There's one thing that strikes me as funny right now, that won't at the end of the month. When I return from vacation, I run a very real risk of being homeless. I mean homeless as in without a home - no place for my stuff and no place to sleep. Outside of the hotel Mom&Dad, I'm essentially going to be homeless, so I'll have to get a room by the week somewhere while I look for something that will carry me through the next chapter.

On Monday night, I got on my knees (again) and earnestly prayed out loud (again) for God to give me guidance on some issues that have been lingering. I prayed for peace and sleep as always, but I also prayed for where He would have me. If He wants me in San Jose, then keep me here - my house goes off the market in a week or so though. If we wanted me somewhere else, then lead me. Since "Plan A" is certainly not God's will (I've considered renaming my blog "Plan B"), I'm not sure where He would have me. It appeared that He wanted me doing His work in my current living situation - among the cold and hard hearts of my neighborhood. Fine. I'd be the crazed Bible thumping idiot from down the street, but I'd try. I'm thankful that I've been able to reach at least one of my neighbors though.

PS 37:4 "Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." My hearts desire was to leave Sodom and fix what I had helped break, but that's impossible. I came to work on Tuesday morning and went the whole day like a reed in the wind - lacking a sense of His will.

Then, at 4 pm today, it came. A simple phone call from a coworker of my Realtor. I have a full price offer on my house! It is not without some considerations though. They wanted me to pay for all closing costs including any points the borrower would otherwise have to pay. I called it a "non-offer", but the more I prayed over it, the more I thought that it might just be God testing to see if I really want out of my current neighborhood. I responded with, "Whatever your will is. I don't want to get anything that is simply acceptable. I want to be 100% in Your will."

Well, I suppose I could be jealous, but it wouldn't do any good. Actually, I wonder what stops I would be making if I had 122 days off. Certainly the Cunard comes to mind, but I'm already doing a short one of those. :-)

At any rate, M's off on her grand adventure for the next several months. I'm off on my grand adventure in 20 days. Then, I get to look forward to "Farewell to America"! I can't wait.



M's Itinerary:

Sept. 24-Oct.15
“Deserts, Delta & Dugouts” trip

Oct. 21-Oct. 31
South African Wine Country trip

Nov. 4 - Nov. 22
China & Yangtse Cruise

Nov 23 – Dec. 29
Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand

Jan 6 – Jan 20
Malaysa

Jan. 27 – Feb. 10
Bali and Lombok

Feb. 18 – Feb. 28
Sailing in Thailand

Does this work?




-dunno.

The reason why the U.S. Women's swim team will ALWAYS beat the team from any Muslim country:

http://www.ahiida.com

Another 6AM call. I love global teaming. I'm realizing how spoiled I am because there are people from all over the world on the call, but they're all speaking English! The Chinese people's English is WAY BETTER than my Chinese, even though it comes out like Engrish sometimes.

Engrish has been around for a while. The only reason why other countries don't make fun of Americans who mispronounce or misspell their words is because we ... well...

What do you call a person who speaks two languages? Bi-lingual.

What do you call a person who speaks three languages? Tri-lingual.

What do you call a person who speaks one language? American.

I finally got to sleep in this morning. I have not had a full day off in 8 months, and it was everything I thought it would be. After a while, I could sleep no more, but as I drifted in and out of conscienceness, Rocco called. Note to self: Don't talk to him about anything deep or serious when you're still 1/2 asleep. I was pretty stubborn about some good advise he gave. I hope you understand, Rocco.

At any rate, I'm back at Starbucks right now catching up on some things that I've been wanting to do for work. Less like work and more like fun if you can imagine that. O.K. I'm studying stored procedures for DB2 - doesn't that sound exciting? To each his own I guess. It would probably be about as exciting as my listening to Rocco's tutoring session for choir. O.K. I think I'm still not quite awake and now I'm rambling.

Otherwise, I had a very nice weekend. I got to see some people and do some things. During all the driving I've done this weekend, I've had some time to think. I've been thinking about a lot of things, but mostly I still think about my place in this world. I'm starting to think about what I believe and the scriptures I use to back my beliefs. I'm not sure if I'm going to start a "series" or anything, but I think I might get some of these thoughts down here for comment. Some of the things I've been thinking of include (don't comment yet):

Is baptism required for salvation?

Once saved, always saved or can you loose your salvation?

What MY Bible says about remarriage

Mark 9:47 & Matt 5:29 & Matt 18:9 - Should we take the Bible seriously, or can we ignore the parts we don't like?

I can justify anything! (But that doesn't make it right). How I need to come to terms with some decisions I'd made, and how to "reverse" them if I can.