Sunday, 31 March 2013

Your Moving Where?????? Part 1

Shalom everyone:
Well, I know it has been a while since I have written. If you are friends with Mark and I on facebook, you know why.
For those who aren't on facebook as well as who are just getting up to speed, our lives have been turned upside down, inside out and now righting itself.
In short, we are moving to Montana.
MONTANA?????
Yes, Montana.
In February, our former room mate informed us that there was a major change with his family and he was given all the roommates 30 days notice. During this same time, that same week, Mark was fired from his job. He had back into a car he that was in his blind spot.
So we were looking for a new place to live as well as a job.
 Despite so many leads, from churches, temples, apartments, we could never find a place to live. Not even a room. Many of our friends didn't have an extra bedroom to offer. Many did, but for various reasons could not offer us a place to live.
My mother, who lives in an assisted living home, could not offer us a room. My sister who lives in Boston, really didn't have the room for the three of us, but told me if we could find our way to Boston, her door was open to us.
It was a hard place. There were even cold statements made that I shall not repect, but leave in the Hands of G-d.
Soon, we found ourselves on a count-down. I just couldn't believe G-d would allow us to sleep in our car. But it was beginning to look like we were.
And then, four days before we had to move out, Mark was handed a flier from a small handyman business. The business was connected church had an outreach to those suffering from addictions or coming out of jail. It offered a training program and housing for up to six months to help those on the program to get on their feet.
Since Mark and I didn't have either of these problems, we would not need sort of help. But knowing they helped the homeless as well, which we were about to become, Mark called the number and spoke to the pastor. We prayed, really believing this was an answer to prayer. Since the pastor told Mark he could use Mark's help now.
One hour later, after meeting the pastor, we were offered a home and Mark a job. The house and job were for a one month period. This would give all a chance to see if we would work out. With the ministry.  A U-Haul was even going to be rented to help us move over the weekend.
But I had this growing unease feeling in the pit of my tummy. The first red  flag was the question: "are you willing to give up being Jewish?"
Ah, no. Yeshua was Hebrew. So were His followers. This was an non-starter.
And yet I was almost begging this man for a home for my little family. Would our hebrew faith really keep us from having a home. No, I couldn't believe that.
The second  red flag was Mark would have to work on Shabbat. We talked this over with our rabbi. He said right now, you two need a home. When you get back on your feet, you can then move forward with our lives. We were thinking one, maybe two months.
The third, as we found out more about the program, the job, it meant Mark would have to attend bible classes Tuesday to Friday, after work. How do you have a marriage when your life is work and church? We were told that we were suppose to attend services and had agreed.
But we didn't know it all week?
The next day, Friday, we went to pick up the keys to the house. At this time, we learned that the church could not afford the truck,  we would have rent it ourselves. Since we had to move by Sunday, this meant we had three more days. 
Saturday, Mark dropped me off at our new home, (a beautiful victorian home) so I could begin cleaning and he could find a truck and help to move. Mark did get a truck and help, but it was a ministry team and they couldn't help us move until Monday. I was still working on getting help for Sunday.
Sunday morning, Mark went to church while I still worked to get a truck and help for the afternoon.
 The pastor was upset because I wasn't at church. Mark again, explained that I was  still working on our move since we had to be out of our old place that evening.
 Sunday afternoon, very dear friends were able to help us begin the move. Since our roommate was understanding that we couldn't be out until Monday, no one could fore see what would happen next.
 The move ran into church service time. Since we just couldn't leave our friends who came to help us to continue the move without us, we missed the evening service. Plus, we needed gas. 
We were not aware that we should have called the pastor to say we would not be there.
On the way to drop off another load, we received a phone call. The person we spoke to told us, since church wasn't important enough to attend (even though we had to move that night) we had to move our things out of the house and turn in the keys. This person had spoken to the pastor and told him that he didn't think Mark would work out and the pastor said ok.
So we were out of not one, but two homes.
To be continued....

3 comments:

Jeff Morton said...

This is heart wrenching, hurtful and so very, very sad...on so many, many levels....I can do nothing accept pray to help...are you all homeless or Montanna bound, I am confused!

Linda Stauffer said...

Sounds like if you actually did start working here, you would have been working on eggshells with the pastor, especially if he was that stringent during a time when you needed grace. It may very well be that God used this non-starter to line you up to a different purpose. That's happened to me before. Be of good cheer. Jesus has overcome the world.

Unknown said...

Shalom Jim; Sorry for the confusion. We arrived in Montana yesterday and now living with family. I am sharing what led to our moving to Montana.
Linda, I truly believe G-d slammed that door before we could really step through it and I thank Him for it.