The Journey...

The journey…

After my job was abruptly discontinued in the first weeks of January, I have been on a quest to find what God has planned for my family and me. Specifically, what my next job will be and what we must do to obtain it.

On January 3rd I met with my mortgage broker to talk about doing a re-finance on our home. The objective was to take out a large portion of our equity to use as investment capital. Simply putting the money in an online bank can better our returns, because of the fact that you can deduct the mortgage interest payments from taxes. Anyway ... if you want more information about how that works let me know.

On January 4th two of our Elders met with me in the morning to let me know that I would no longer be the Youth Minister. I could finish up that day or work as long as I would like during the month of January. After talking with Lori, I decided to work for the next 10 days. This allowed me to wrap up what I was teaching the youth and then get started on finding a job. It actually took me a week just to pack up my office and organize the Youth Ministry resources.

I decided to stop attending Santa Clara Church, because of the need for separation from the job and provide time to sort out my feelings. We have enjoyed visiting friend’s churches the last few weeks. We have many encouraging friends, which has been helpful. I am not sure where we will end up, but I am fairly certain that we will not be back to Santa Clara in the near future; I just don’t feel comfortable there. That is a hard decision because we have so many friends amongst the youth and adults. Our boys miss their Sunday School class/teacher/friends.

So what is next for me? That is a good question. Even though I love working with youth, especially mentoring and discipling, I came to the conclusion that there are aspects of vocational ministry that don’t work for my family and me.

This was further confirmed by reading the book Do What You Are by Paul D. Teiger and Barbara Barron-Tieger. Lori’s mom gave this book to me in January; she picked it up at a used bookstore. I read it on February 8th. It is a great book for determining your personality type and then they give a general idea of what jobs you will be good at and enjoy. The sub-title is “Discover the perfect career for you through the secrets of personality type.” They use the Myers-Briggs personality test, which I had heard of but do not remember ever taking. Both Lori and I have not had good results with others personality/gifts tests. We both are usually flat-lined with no real insights into who we are. But the Myers-Briggs was very helpful. After determining that I was an ISTP, which is one of the 16 different personality types according to their research, I read the description of me and … it described me almost perfectly. It was actually kind of scary. Here are the first two sentences: “ISTPs are straightforward, honest, and pragmatic people who prefer action to conversation. They are unpretentious and often have a good understanding of the way things work.” Other words used to describe this personality include, “analytical,” “curious,” “observant,” “quiet,” and “reserved.” The last lines of the description: “ISTPs tend to appear cool and aloof and are inclined toward shyness, except with good friends. They are self-leading, egalitarian, and fair. They tend to operate on impulse, so they are adaptable and responsive to immediate challenges and problems. Because they thrive on excitement and action, they usually like the outdoors and sports.” Interesting, huh?

In the weeks since finishing the Youth Ministry position, I have had many thoughts on what to do next. We were able to do the re-fi of our house; we went in the very next day and got the paperwork going because you cannot finance a house if you are without a job. They don’t like loaning money to the unemployed. So with the equity from our home, we have some breathing room. I can go back to college, start a business, or… if we are conservative, we could live for about two years on the money. After two years without a job, we would have to sell our house and would lose most of that great equity we have accrued. We would rather use the money to invest in the future. Where do we invest is the question. What can I do that will create a living wage in the next 1-2 years?

Some ideas that have gone through my mind and our conversations include:

1. Becoming a Preacher in a small-town church – but given my better understanding of my personality, probably not.
2. Stock and Options trading – which I am doing and taking more classes. However, making a living doing this is questionable. You gotta have money to make money.
3. Becoming a Financial Planner – I don’t know about this one, I was very interested in this for awhile but not so much right now. I like helping people with using their money wisely so maybe I’ll come back to this.
4. I briefly looked into working at a local Credit Union to gain experience in the financial world, however starting wages are very low and it requires selling. Nah, but thank you to Bill Compton for setting me up to talk with them.
5. Becoming a Real Estate Appraiser. I like this work but will there be enough work in the years to come?
6. Starting an Auto Transport business - Buying a diesel pickup and a 3-4-car trailer to haul cars for dealerships and others, as well as possibly doing local towing. This depends on getting contracts with different companies and not having to go long haul too often, I might come back to this.
7. Landscape business – I have written up business plans in the past for this idea, but in talking with my friends in this business I have found all the money is in commercial contracts, which is more difficult to obtain and learning how to bid them would take some time.
8. Finishing a degree at the University of Oregon – having a regionally accredited degree would help with the Financial Planner and Appraiser certification. Or I could get a degree such as Biology or History and plan on teaching. But given what I learned about my personality, full-time teaching is probably not for me.
9. Finishing a degree at NCC – not as desirable, as some of us call it the NoN-Christian College. However, I have started paperwork with both colleges and filled out the FAFSFA.
10. Getting a masters in Marriage and Family Counseling through George Fox – I really enjoy helping couples and parents, but don’t know if I could do it full-time.
11. Working with some friends in a new local development business – building houses. I still might do this, as a temporary job. They can’t pay what I would like to be making, so this will probably be temporary if I end up working with them.
12. Becoming a licensed commercial helicopter pilot. I am still working on this one. There are two schools (Salem and Hillsboro). It is very expensive ($50-70K) and most jobs require previous experience, I am hoping I can work it out, but the odds are long. I am making contacts in the industry and at the schools to find out more. Both schools hire many to most of their graduates as instructors, so that helps pay back the loans and gain more flight time which is needed for commercial jobs. The other problem is most jobs are out of Oregon and often require a pilot to be away from home for long periods of time. So I am hoping to figure out how to find the dream job as a helicopter pilot before starting the schooling.
13. Working with Oregon Fish&Wildlife. Lori found a job in the Steens Mountains that I qualify for because of my ranching experience. This is a six-month job out of the town of Frenchglen (pop. 15). I have an interview on the 27th in Hines (next to Burns, OR). This job entails hiking/ATVing the Steens in order to monitor the activity of trans-located Mountain Quail. It would be an adventure as my family and I would be living in a camp trailer in the middle-of-no-where for 6 months. I have always wanted to explore the Steens Mountains, but have never made it down there ... I might get my opportunity. And Lori thinks she is up for the adventure, she is amazing!
14. Becoming a mail carrier with the USPS. I responded to a want ad, and received the practice testing material. You have to take what is called the Postal Battery Exam to work for the Post Office. I was surprised to find that start wages are right at $20 an hour, no experience necessary. I believe I would enjoy delivering the mail, especially if I got to get to know some of the people on the route.


The last three options are currently my favorites. A really cool outcome would be for me to become a helicopter pilot for the Fish&Wildlife department. That’s what I am praying for!

I welcome your input and prayers,

Cory –

16 February 2007