Well Folks, I have an amazing story for me to tell... About my new jobs ... I mean my new 1 job... just 1... really!

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Anywho, here's some background. I have owned my own graphic design / print company for the last 5 years. I have loved every minute of it even though it has been the most challenging thing I have ever done. Lots of great people, tough clients and projects, having payroll, 60 hour weeks, etc. Anyways, I started my business after tornado-type winds (100mph+) destroyed the church that I was Director of Recreation at. Needless to say, the church could not longer pay my salary. Then I was lost. I just taken over this job 8 months earlier after I graduated from Univ. of Memphis with a degree in Sport Management. I believed God called me to this particular type of ministry. So there I was, without a job and no openings at any of the local churches. What was I to do?!?

God truly uses people to speak to us. It was a week after the storm when much of my hope was CRUSHED. Why did I go to school for 4 years to get a degree in a specific area to be destroyed after 8 months and leave me hanging??!? "Patience Daniel-son".
Anyways, a fellow Dir of Rec from a local church called me to encourage me and to give me an idea. She knew that I was into graphic design / web design as I had redesigned the website for the church that I was at, my home church, and the recreation league I was helping. She told me that I should start my own business doing graphic / web design.... and that her church would be my FIRST CLIENT! WOW!

So God just opened the door to a totally new path in my life. With all of the network that I had built in Memphis, I was able to get a solid base of clients to start my own business. Without getting into too much detail, I wanted to use my business to HELP OTHER SMALL BUSINESSES. I wasn't going for FedEx sized clients, just the 20 employees and less businesses.

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So my business grew, I purchased printing equipment, hired people to help me with designing and HTML programming, and etc. But as you know, recently the economy has been the worst since my dad was a wee-McCormick. And, I never planned for it, nor thought about the 'what if'. And so, with small businesses getting hit the hardest, MY CORE TARGET OF CLIENTS, most all of them are stopping with marketing/design needs. Yikes! What am I to do?

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So finally I came to terms that I could no longer keep my business running full-time and I needed to get a full-time job elsewhere.... IN THIS SAME BAD ECONOMY! But still, God provided. It has been 3+ months of hard job searching. During this time, I had one major company that still used me for many hours each week...basically keeping a roof over our heads. Without this company (we will call them 'COMPANY 28'), I have no clue where we would be living as I am sure it wouldn't be in this house.

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So with all this being said (I know I am long-winded, but hey, I don't post that often), last week I got multiple job offers. At the beginning of Thursday last week, I went to Forest Home for an interview with 2 other applicants for many hours. I got back home and 2 hours later, they called and said we all liked you, and want you to do another interview on the following day (Friday morning). I said yes, because it was the only job offer I had, but man, something didn't feel right. I believe it was God shielding me from something, but I wasn't comfortable anymore so I didn't know really what I wanted to do. So the following morning I had another interview with someone from Forest Home, he liked me, and told the head of Marketing this. Well, if I was to have this job, I would have to do one more interview over the phone.

So I drive back home, feeling ill already, completely in a fog as to what to do. No more than 1 hour later, the phone rings. It is a company who I put in an application for like 2-3 months earlier finally calls me! Wow, I felt like God must of been saving me for this job because once I had this impromptu phone interview with this company (I'll call this company, 'Company Web'), I felt overjoyed! This was the job! So we set up an interview for Monday (which would be 4 days ago). Anywho, so I go out for the rest of the day and out with friends for the weekend. Meanwhile, the last person to interview me from Forest Home called me to call her back, but it was the weekend and I didn't want to interview with her if I was going to take the other job.

Monday comes, I drive out to Riverside and interviewed with Company Web. Things looked great, the position was great... everything! So when we got into the salary part, they offered me a good bit more than Forest Home, but I really wanted to work from home some too. So we negotiated down a little of my pay, to allow me to work from home 3+ days from home and still pay a tad more than Forest Home. So here I am, on Cloud 9 for a great job, great benefit of working from home, decent money.... I felt like God had me here!

So I go back home happy, and I get this phone call from my friend at Company 28. I was surprised because I was about to call him and tell him that I wouldn't be able to work as many as now since I just got a full-time job, but he had called me because he had a meeting with the boss and the boss decided that right now with this economy that they needed to not use anymore external designer/programmers. And here I am thinking, WOW, Praise to the Lord!?!? I'm searching for a job for 3+ months, all the while Company 28 is providing me with enough work to get by, and the day I no longer needed them to be my most important source of income, they called to tell me that they couldn't use me anymore! Wow, so this must be God's plan, right?!

So hours had passed after getting home and receiving this call from Company 28 when Company Web called me to offer me the job! Yes!! I am so happy. I told Bobbi and she was so happy for me. (Later on I found out that Bobbi was happy that I got a job, but really was upset that I didn't take the Forest Home job because she thinks it is the best place to go and work for). So Monday evening I called the main guy at Forest Home to tell him that I have accept a job elsewhere and he was shocked to say the least. I felt bad, but I felt so good about this other job. He asked me why I made this decision and basically I said that the other company offered to let me stay at home for 3+ days per week. So I get off the phone and that's that, right?!?

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Well, Forest Home must of really wanted me because they sent me an email on Tuesday morning that really touched me saying how much they liked me, thought I would be a great fit, and how they really believe that God put it on their hearts to send me an email for me to reconsider. Wow, that was very nice of them, so I replied saying thanks for the kind words and I would open my heart again for God to lead, even though I truly felt more comfortable with the job I already accepted. Through the day, Forest Home was letting me know the great benefits of working there and I would reply thanks for the email and this is great information to keep in mind... but still that little tug at my heart was saying "days at home are very important"! So, it must of been by God's leading that told me to reply to an email just restating why I chose the other job, working from home. So, over Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, Forest Home must of thought about it and asked me to call them back.

So Wednesday comes around and I call them. From the beginning I have been impressed and kindly overwhelmed by the efforts of Forest Home to get me to come there. So they laid out to me a new offer, which included 2-3 days of working from home! And on top of that, they explained to me a benefits package!?!? What's this? I wasn't told this or is this new?!? I don't know, but I know that God had to of blinded it from me at the beginning so that I would take this road that I did. So on top of this generous benefits package (which Company Web didn't offer), we went through this position at every step and every level. Now, earlier when I said that I wasn't feeling right about this job and just was unsure if it was the job for me, a lot of it was because I was truly unsure what they really wanted from me and I didn't know if I could fulfil their needs and so I was a bit timid and scared. But after our long conversation, that spirit of blindness was lifted. It was as if this was a new job that I was interviewing for because I had a renewed spirit and desire to work here, kinda like how I felt when I interviewed at Company Web, but of course, Forest Home is an incredible ministry with amazing people that I would rather work for!

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So that's my super long, God-directed, multiple job offered, multiple job accepted, and multiple calling to tell company that I am taking another job, newly added benefit offer of working several days from home for a great ministry, while having Company 28 calling me for reasons they thought were bad, but at that point it wasn't bad news for me, story. (PS - I called Company Web on Thursday to tell them that I was going to take-back my acceptance of the job, and they were very happy for me...I was surprised!)

PEACE OUT!

So I'm one of those guys who hates crowds. I don't know why exactly. Sometimes I think it is because with so many people that I can't control what could happen to me if something big happened. Sometimes I think it is because I hate long lines at the restaroom and having to hear everyone else's loud cell phone conversation while I can't hear Bobbi who is walking next to me. But during Christmas time, I have another reason why I don't like crowds.

During Christmas time, all idiots from near and far decide to come out and let loose their mindless-ignorance on the public.

Example One, Black Friday. Two words that put together brings fear to mind. Without getting into detail, the one time that I woke up early to stand in line at 3:30am in front of Toys-R-Us in Memphis was something to forget. It boggles my mind how many #$#%$# people there are in the world. Bobbi and I were standing in line for 90 mins. The line was wrapped around the building. 1 minute before 5am, you see the sad pathetic side of some people. At 4:59, approx 75 people come out of their cars which are parked in front of the store's doors, start to gather to bum-rush the front door at 5am and cut soooooo many people in line. Sad enough, there was only one store guard who is worthless because he has no authority. Anyways, with seconds before the doors open, you can hear everyone in line curse out those sad people, in several different languages and voice pitches, who were wanting to cut the line. We had some tough motha's who voice their displeasure and rallied the whole group of people in line to "LOCK CARTS" and not let the other people jump the line. Yeah, it is sad that this happens. It is sad that there are so many people who "just don't care". And it is sad when you hear this year that a 34 year-old Wal-Mart employee was killed by being trampled to death as New Yorkers broke through locked doors as this employee was trying to open them.

Example Two, kids. Why do people take kids on their 18-hour Christmas shopping spree? I understand if you are a single parent or don't have money for a sitter or whatever, but good gravy, go shop over several days, deals will last a week, and if you are trying to shop during the Black Friday/Saturday time, GET A SITTER, LEAVE WITH PARENT/G-PARENT, SOMETHING. Kids have only a couple of hours before they lose focus on what's going on then they turn into public disasters. Don't get me wrong, I really have nothing wrong with kids... because they are kids.... I remember those days. I have issues with parents. I think today's parent have all inherited a mutated gene to completely tune-out their children anywhere (public or private). I can't tell you how many times during these Christmas times that kids are let loose to "entertain themselves". I sometimes wish I was living back in the 'Ol-Times' in the South where strangers were encouraged to knock sense into kids they didn't know who were acting a fool. I feel like parents today 'spare the rod and spoil the child.' Even Christians should re-read Proverbs 13:24.

Example Three, basic driving skills are put to test for many Christmas shoppers. It is funny to see 2 cars signaling for 1 parking spot that is about to open up.... unless the first car that was there way before the other car, but the other car couldn't see the first car, so he thinks he was their first and is super pissy at the car that was really there first... is ME! This is the only time of the year that ANY PARKING SPACE is worth following shoppers from the front door to their car in your own car. I dis-heart fighting for parking. Also, I am not the most patient of drivers, but seriously, I don't like going to one of those outdoor malls that has 3 million crosswalks with 40 millions people using them. I remember one year sitting at a four-way stop for like 5 minutes because of so many pedestrians and the moment you are clear to continue through the four-way stop, one of the other cars at the stop decides not to wait his turn and bolt across so he doesn't get stuck behind cross-walkers which then allows the another car at the four-way stop to turn behind the out-of-turn car, which then by the time those 2 out-of-turn cars cleared.... more pedestrians. Oh bother.

So, I count my blessings that I have a wife who loves to shop during Black Friday/Saturday and can go out and shop in the stores and let me enjoy online shopping on my couch watching football. Ah, I love her!

Lessons learned: (1) Parents, put a leash on your child, if not, you will receive 3 drop-kicks from me. (2) Online Shopping saves some people from brain aneurysms like myself. (3) Keeping the Christmas Spirit is easy when you have a great wife who doesn't mind crowds and the internet. (4) Bosco loves me (5) There are too many sad/pathetic people in the world out there who think they are above the law/ethics/common sense... who all deserve drop-kicks in the teeth from me, but I can't, because I would break my legs 20 times over from all of the foot to mouth beatings, so I shall just live with the fact that God knows those jerks and hopefully one day will change their hearts from being line-jumpers to be line-followers.

The End.