Small boat and Wayne

This week has been really hard, work-wise. I've been waiting since April for the small-boat project work to get turned on. I've been really excited about it and each week have been waiting for it. Really, we've been waiting for two years for it, and in a way have been waiting since we first demoed the idea in 2008. Anyways, the project has been what I've really wanted to do. Its fun, interesting, gets me out of the office, and would allow me to lead a project and fulfill many career goals. I've had a lot built on this project, personally and professionally. So, on Wednesday, I found out that it was cancelled completely. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but it was hard to believe. I feel like it sort of sent me into some form of shock the last couple days. This project was such a given and such a light for me in the midst of a gloomy work forecast. And now it was suddenly gone. I really didn't know what to do. I have had nothing else in my future except for this. Wednesday, Thursday, and most of Friday I was just in a spiral of depression concerning this. I didn't want to take it to God or anybody. I just wanted to let it stew and keep me down; to wallow in the misery of it for awhile.
God in his mercy allowed me to finish up Wayne's computer on Thursday night and then Friday afternoon, we went over there and I set it all up for him. Later at night, Wayne & I were sitting out on the back deck talking.  I had this huge weight of this project on my heart, but didn't want to let it go. But, eventually it had to come up- I think God saw to that. I bombarded Wayne with all this emotional information and depression and he took it all in. Then, rather than just agreeing with me, Wayne actually came back and challenged me. He showed me that I was full of pride and that my confidence was in this project and not in God. He exhorted me like a good brother. As soon as he did that, the Spirit in side of me sort of rejoiced. I was filled with comfort from this truth, as I realized that it was truth. I had been blinded to my slow fade from dependence on God to dependence on the small boat project. God, through Wayne, showed me how wrong I was and how he wanted me to be faithful in my work no matter what and to simply trust Him with each thing. He would take care of my career path, help me to find interesting work, etc. That's how I used to approach work- way back when God first gave me this small boat opportunity. I didn't know that I was no longer trusting Him with it, but assuming things and trusting myself. But, Wayne helped me to see clearly that I was there deep in pride and not trusting God. Wayne also showed me that God was gracefully teaching me an important lesson. God still allowed me to keep my job- I was still employed, just not doing what I wanted to do.
I see now that I need to trust God with my future at work. I can see nothing in the future, but that doesn't mean I should be depressed- instead I should approach each day with an optimistic anticipation of what God has in store and what He will provide. He has allowed this seemingly great project to go away, and I must trust that this is for my good and for His glory. I praise God that He allowed me to be with Wayne last night and solve this issue in my heart, before it really got out of control. I feel like maybe God's timing with Wayne's computer issues in combination with the timing of this project cancellation were perfect and He provided perfectly for my spiritual needs through this.

Morning at Greg's

I got to Greg's study a few minutes after 7am this morning. The air was cool and crisp- a small cool wave after many days of 90+ degree temps. It was in the low 60's this morning. I was walking from my car to Greg's shop and noting the coolness and quietness. The sun was just coming over the buildings and lowly lighting the brick. There was a little dew in the air that caused a calm light fogginess around the area. Then, behind me, a rooster started crowing from the houses! Immediately, I was transported to Romania. I stopped for a minute, soaking in the scene and the sound of the rooster. I felt exactly like I feel on those early crisp mornings in Romania, about to go out on prayer walk- anticipating all that was in store for the day and what God was going to do. It was a brief but powerful moment for me that reminded me of good memories and deep times or mountaintop experiences. It brought joy to my heart reflecting on those mornings in Romania.  I miss them greatly, but have to trust where God has me. Why don't I anticipate what God will do during a day here, like I did in Romania? Is there really a difference, or is it just my lack of faith? It's been a very hard week this week, but that brief moment of peace this morning really helped my mindset going into the weekend. Thank You, Lord.

Wayne's computer fan

So, I've been working hard for two weeks on getting Wayne's office computer all set back up and functioning better than ever for him. I was almost done this week when it occurred to me that the computer fans were blowing really high and really loud- all the time. The more I thought about it, the more annoying it was. There was no way Wayne would like this. I started googling for information and found that there were fan problems with this model of Dell and most of them were caused by people trying to do BIOS upgrades, which I had attempted to do. I quickly fell into a swamp of depression as I mulled over hundreds of forum posts that basically say that nothing can be done but replace the motherboard. I spent three evenings this week reading forums and attempting various things to stop the fans from blowing so hard; I even pulled apart the computer and re-seated the processor. Nothing worked. I was so depressed. The computer was so fast, and so perfect, except that it sounded like a hair dryer. Tonight, in frustration, I finally just gave up and was resigned to buying a new motherboard and pulling apart the whole computer to replace it. It would be a terrible task, but would have to be done. I closed up the computer case and then walked away. Then, I decided to fire it up one more time to see what the fans sounded like with the case closed. I booted up and it was quiet. That had happened before, but then quickly went away. So, I waited. And waited. And waited. Nothing...silent fans. I monitored SpeedFan and everything was fine- speeds were constant or even lowering. I waited an hour and nothing changed. It was fixed!!! I couldn't believe it. Is it possible that the fan sensors are sensitive to conditions caused by having the case open? Possibly. Is it possible that every person complaining online was in the middle of computer work like I was and had their case open? Possibly. I was floored, relieved, and totally thankful. I praise God for this unexpected turn of events in a really frustrating week, and I'm so glad that I can return a nicely functioning and quiet machine to Wayne.

Knock Sensor

Tonight, Liz and I got her knock sensor replaced successfully! I've been so stressed about doing this all week. Everything I've read described it as a royal pain. I've been optimistic though because I figure with two of us, it will be easier to do. We tried Wednesday night and failed miserably. It was hot, humid, buggy, dark and we made many mistakes and dropped a 10mm socket down into the engine depths. We gave up in frustration. Today, we went to Lowe's and bought 3 critical tools for a grand total of $8 and they came in VERY handy. With the little magnetic picker tool I was able to pull out the 10mm socket in about 30 seconds. That was very encouraging and then I was pumped up to do the knock sensor. It was a bit of a pain, but I think we got it done in about an hour with a bit of fiddling. God was so good! It was a about to storm, but didn't, so the weather was actually quite cooler, not as humid, it was earlier so we could see better, and we had better tools. I'm just so thankful that we're done with the task and that God saw us through it. We drove the car around and the check engine light went off and it had better acceleration than before. This is a big relief to have it done. We found a $45 new OEM knock sensor on Ebay and did our own labor. I saw the parts quoted other places for $150-$200 plus $400-$800 labor depending on the mechanic. So, I'd say, we saved i the neighborhood of $300-$500 on this job! Thank the Lord for that!

Wayne's computer

Today, Wayne's computer hard drive died on his main invoice & work machine. It was quite stressful as it was, but I praise God that we had just backed up that hard drive one week prior! He had never backed it up before, and we were there the previous weekend and talking about it, so I set up a backup for that computer. I was able to restore all his data tonight and get him working temporarily on a laptop with the files he needed. I just praise God in his timing and allowing us to get that backup made last week and allowing us to be there last weekend, especially with all the other 4th of July weekend plans we were weighing out. This crash would have been really catastrophic without that backup, and God's timing was perfect.

Mousies in Liz's car

We were cleaning cars this afternoon and I was vacuuming out Liz's. She has been having problems with mice getting in for a long time now and it seems impossible to trap them all. I haven't replaced her air filter in a few years, so I just felt this urge to look at it and see how it was doing. I opened up the compartment and found tons and tons of mouse evidence in the area under the filter. This area also leads through some pipes directly into the interior of the car! I pulled out as much piping as I could and found mouse evidence the whole way through. We cleaned it up and then went to Lowes to get ideas for how to cover the air intake with a mesh so that mice don't get in. I was able to do it. My praise is just that God showed me this obvious way that mice were directly getting into the car and gave me a way to block it. I am hopeful that this will solve the interior problem at least. We will still have to figure out the trunk, but that's not as big or gross of an issue.

Not dropping Liz's car

I was working on Liz's car to unplug the A/C drain (which I was able to do- praise the Lord!). When I was done, I was lowering the car from the jack stands. I had taken the wheel off the passenger side so I could get under more easily. I had forgotten to put the wheel back on and had jacked up the car and was just about to pull the jack stand off when I noticed the wheel was off! God stopped me just short of dropping the car onto the ground! I felt like an idiot at such a huge oversight with dire consequences, but I'm so thankful that He stopped me and put that thought in my head at the perfect time. Shew!