August 30, 2006

  • New Epaulets

    I got woken up this morning by a phone call from my work offering me the supervisor position for the next 9 months. I said yes.

    For
    me, this comes at a very interesting time. I posted in the past about
    being a missionary in Japan. Let me recap. I few months back, I felt a
    calling to become a missionary in Japan. This was, for the most part,
    the sort of faith-based strong calling that I get from time to time; by
    that I mean, I knew it certainly. But as I started perusing the
    Japanese language, and getting in contact with a Japanese missions
    organization, the realization that the whole thing was highly
    impractical started to settle in. You see, I still have a solid 6000
    dollars in outstanding student debt, and it's difficult the leave the
    country for a few years with this kind of thing looming. Not only that,
    but my self-study of Japanese was hitting a bit of a wall, and I
    realized that I really did need some formal training. This was not
    possible, as my awkward work schedule precluded such lessons. In the
    end, I decided to take my time getting to Japan. I would stay here
    until my debt was cleared, and then go to Japan with a little more
    freedom.

    Recently I've been getting back into
    web development (trust me, it ties in). This website is a product of
    that. Web development is a thing I enjoy and pursue as a hobby, while
    most people in the field do it for a living. Since the money I make is
    well under the poverty line, I've been thinking recently that I should
    put my resume out, and test the waters for a web development job. It's
    sort of a mixed bag for me though. It would be a career, while my
    current job is just a job. I couldn't help but wonder how this would
    effect my "free" future; the one in Japan. So I prayed about it, and
    decided that this time I would let God show me organically. I asked him
    to open and close doors as he sees fit.

    Fast
    forward two days, and I'm offered the supervisor position for 9 months.
    And understand that this is not something I saw coming. I had met the
    new supervisor, and he had been in for training. Things were lined up
    for him to take the position. However, he missed one of his training
    days, and then came in and hour and a half late today. So my current
    supervisor canned him, and called me. Out of the blue, really.

    So
    I'm not sure exactly how to take it, but it is interesting. With the
    day shift I'll be able to join Freedomize, and subsequently a house
    group. In addition, I'll probably start looking into formal Japanese
    lessons again. There is a modicum of a pay raise, but it's mostly
    ceremonial. I'm still going to put out my resume, I think, and let God
    decide what will happen, but this change is startlingly well placed. I
    guess we shall see.

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