I'm back

For a time, times and half a time.  Anyway, what follows are some links to things that have caught my attention, a few comments, and an update.  The update first.  I've been plowing forward in my second of two jobs, which when combined with my first, is still unable to provide the sparsest sustenance.  My wife is currently looking for gainful employment, but still nothing.  The toughest part is that for the underpay and no real upward potential, my schedule is such that I will miss entire swaths of my boys' life this year.  If it was enough even to get by on, I could handle that.  If it was for some grand purpose, OK.  But for a job scarcely making it, that pill goes down tough.  Especially as there is no way we are gaining any means to help my oldest prepare for college, or even make some necessary - and safety oriented - repairs around the house.   Oh, and I won't even discuss our garden this year.  So much for saving money that way.

Needless to say, I'm not the happiest.  After almost seven years of trying to make myself available within the diocese, I have concluded that there is no need - or want - of my services.  I've been told by no less than three priests that putting 'former Protestant clergy' on my resume is probably the issue.  Like it or no, attitudes about the Great Protestant Clergy Conversion (TM) have cooled in recent years.  I've known for some time that the numbers have diminished, that being logical given the economic factors of our time.  But it's clear at this point that the Church in our neck of the woods, if not the Church universal, has little interest at this point in putting former clergy converts to work (except for the Anglican Communion, but that's another story).  That's just a fact.  It's not good or evil, right or wrong.  It's a fact, and one I must accept.  Waiting for that dream position that would utilize my years of schooling, training, and experience as a former member of the clergy, while having some position that might help us financially, is akin to waiting for Rush Limbaugh to vote for President Obama. 

Therefore, I've moved on, though the economic fact of our age, as so many other Americans are aware of, is hindering our ability to even keep up, much less make it with anything to spare.  So these last weeks, and likely the upcoming weeks (months?) will find me working, looking, searching, and looking some more in the hopes of taking care of my family - the only vocation I have left.  We'll see.  But during this time, I'm afraid I won't have much time, and will only be able to swing by on random and sparse occasions to blog.  So here are a few of the things I saw.  Enjoy, and I hope everyone is doing well, getting by, and making it if not more so.