The History of The Homesteader (Part I)

Let me give you a little back ground about me and my family. As you have read, I am a Youth Pastor, an ordained minister, in a Baptist Church. It is an independent Baptist church and I suppose my wariness of governing bodies runs deep. Trust an individual, distrust a board! Anyone involved in an independent Baptist church knows that the position of pastor or youth pastor is not filled because it is a lucrative job. No Mercedes, BMW's or even Cadillac here. The senior pastor, who has been here for 15 years, drives a Dodge pickup truck. Granted it is a nice enough truck, but certainly not a luxury vehicle. I have an old '92 Ford 4x4 F-250 and an old Ford van. I am not complaining just telling you that I don't make a whole bunch of money.

It wasn't always the case. I used to work in the "secular" world. In fact I held jobs in various sectors of industry, but all of them having to do with management or even ownership of businesses. My last job was with the second largest trucking expediter in the country. I had a fairly lucrative job there. But you know the old saying, either you have money and no time, or time and no money. I definitely fell into the money and no time category.

When I was in my mid-20's I began to feel God calling me back to my church. When I was a kid I was faithful, along with my parents and sister for quite a while. As most churches do, at some time in there existence, this church had some problems. I used it for a chance to bolt to do all the "fun" stuff I was missing out on. You know the stuff, drinking, partying, etc. So as I went off to college at the University of Akron I partied more than studied. I was a pre-professional biology major. That is the same thing that those who chose to go to Medical School start off with. After a couple years in college, my grandfather died, and I used that for an excuse to bolt from college. Not a good record of finishing things huh?

After I quit college, I got a job at a local supermarket and worked my way up to the highest level of supervisor that the store had. I was young, about 20 at the time and had a lot of lessons to learn. So after staying there for about 3 years, I quit because I got passed over for a grocery manager position at a big new store that this chain was building. Looking back, I can completely understand the reluctance of the corporation to make a 22 or 23 year old THE MAN in charge of a whole grocery division of a huge brand new store. I should have been flattered that I was even considered as it was a compliment. But being young and dumb, my world revolved around me, and reality had not really set in yet. I was pretty focused on money at that time, and my values were very skewed to say the least.

I got into trucking with my father. We traveled for a while but that wasn't a life for a young man looking to have fun. So we sold the trucks and got out of business. I got back into retail management, this time as a manager of a convenient store. I can honestly say, that this was the hardest job I have ever had. It wasn't so physically demanding, but it was mentally killing me. I worked over 10 hours a day for over 10 weeks in a row without a day off. It taught me a lot. I realized that you need to be steady in your life because there are people depending on you. We were open 24 hours a day and I would hire people for 3rd shift and they wouldn't show up, or they would call off and I would have to work that shift. It was horrible, but good for the soul. Well a better offer came along that was more money and less hours. It was more physical work too. It was as an assistant manager at an 84 lumber. I know all the intimate details about that place. The most memorable is that in the summer they don't air condition the inside building and in the winter they don't heat it! It was during this time that I got right with God and started to be faithful to church. It was right before getting hired at 84 lumber actually. I was living alone, and felt really alone. Working all those hours in the store was taking a real toll on me. I was pretty depressive and can honestly say that God brought me out of that.

I will end here and write another post in a day or so.

The Modern Homesteader