16 Days

Well, its been a rather eventful 16 days since I last wrote. I hardly can believe all that has transpired in such little time. We have relocated our stuff from Colorado to New York City. I have an internship starting on Monday with an architecture firm and Elise has interviewed for a salaried position with a great company...and is pursuing other leads.

I wanted to take the time since I had it to write. There are so many emotions going on. So many thoughts pouring through my head that its best to organize them.

I will break things down into a couple categories to hopefully organize this for my readers: Money , Jobs/Careers, NYC, and community/church

MONEY:

Elise and I were able to save quite a bit during our first year of marriage in great part due to free rent and living with the parents. Although it wouldn't be my first recommendation for newlyweds I see God used it tremendously to show us the gifts we have in our families and to start off our independence with enough change to get our careers hopefully started without going into any debt. Needless to say we have spent a lot of money to move here more than I have on anything in my whole life! And it is definitely uncomfortable whenever I spend money on myself, I freak out a little. I'm not one to spend on myself unless it comes in a coffee package. And although we have enough to live on for quite a while we are still in tight mode til things become more settled. This means saying no to a lot of things I love and cherish like coffee shop coffee pastries and other things that are now luxury items.

JOBS/CAREERS:

I was offered a 3 mo. unpaid internship with a great architecture firm that could possibly turn into a paid position after my 3 month commitment with them and at least would offer me valuable experience that I don't have on my resume and get my foot in the door to even be considered by other firms in the area...I said yes, it is a great opportunity. I just had to stomach and am still swallowing the fact that I will be paying for the opportunity myself and putting Elise in a position where she needs to make x amount of dollars per month for 3 months to not eat up a significant chunk of our savings. This is not an ideal situation. But that is NYC for you things are as they are nothing is completely ideal especially whenever you have twelve thousand cultures merging in one giant city. Having people involved makes it complicated. But in the words of my boss of my last job where I quit...it is as it is!

But I guess that is probably the big lesson in this whole career job opportunity thing. Life is not perfect but it is how we react to the constraints put around us and how we honor God in these.

NYC

Being in a different culture (our area is largely Jewish and Caribbean black) where communities are so ethnically tied and linked is lonely, nothing is familiar...it is truly like being in another country. Everything becomes about your community because you cling to what is like you. And to be honest it's hard to be the only white people on the subway by the time we reach our stop. But perhaps this too is another great lesson as the letters on our ancient 1918 apartment building showcase " (AMBASSADORS COVRT) " we do not belong here. Here is not our home...heaven is our home. And although Elise and I have finally found a place for all of our stuff...we are still sojourners in a dessert where there is little water and much death.

I am grateful for my little black friend who met me the day we moved in and continues to think I am cool and we exchange fists to say hello in passing. He made my day today.

COMMUNITY/CHURCH

Building upon the loneliness of the city, its been a little bit of a challenge to meet people. Not to mention I don't know how to interact at all with the few cultures around me nor do I even begin to know how to interact with all of the cultures of this city! Church has been a breath of fresh air in all of this. It is nice to see people smiling and willing to meet you and actually converse. It is always a challenge though meeting people and making friends. You have to let things develop over time as they tend to do and see what God has in the opportunities and relationships He places in your path. I am largely rethinking this though...and mission....and other big topics in my life. God is guiding it though and I don't think community and church will look the same as they did in college but I am excited to step into the joy set before me in this and willing to suffer in the initial pain and disappointment that getting plugged in can often cause.

Beyond that I will continue to keep you all updated through this and other things. I am excited to see what the Lord does in the next 16 days. He has already done much in these first 6 of being here in the city. Things move so quickly here!

-J.G.Grinstead