Contentment.

I mean... God is good. For REAAL. I'm still a sinner that battles his grubby ol' self, but that isn't a reflection on Him. He's ALL good. And in being so, he's led me to a place of contentment. It took a twisty time frame of 4 months, but God finally showed me what the next year of life will look like. It's gonna involve some discipline, communal attention, favorable changes, and ultimately, a focus on what it means to handle success from the standpoint of being a member of the redeemed.

Since the beginning of May, I've been working at Signature Bank of Arkansas. It was truly a blessing when they called me confirming my employment and it has been a bigger blessing to be employed by them. The CEO of Signature, Gary Head, works inside the same building as I do and I can't help but comment on how he carries himself. He greets everyone. He asks them how they are doing-- and then listens. He then tries to aid ALL in any way he can too. In fact, most of our customers know they can walk in without an appointment and he will figure out a circus act to put them in his schedule that day. Not next week over coffee (ahem, pastors)... Not over lunch "sometime"... THAT DAY. During my training-- before he knew me --he told me, "Mr. Erick. Welcome to the family. I MEAN this, if there's ANYTHING I can do for you, please let me know." Really spoke to me... And to follow that up, he's still asks me that today. But Anyways, enough about Signature...

Since the beginning of June, I've been learning the trade of bar tending at this nice little classy venue and It's been extremely fun. I've met a LOT of nice/looooving people. For those Christians who have vendetta's against alcohol, please go talk with your local Presbyterian or even Lutheran pastor over the historical role of alcohol within our church history. Not to argue, but to be enlightened (most of our newer churches have no clue about our christian history). Anyways, ask them about some of our most iconic Christian fathers and see what they thought of drinking. If nothing else, check out the bible for yourself. Read Proverbs 31:1-9 and Psalms 104 (specifically verse 15). Feed your mind. But anyways, let's move on. Along with bar tending, I'm about to start working at a classy Italian restaurant as a server/bartender too. Ironically, I got this job by being really nice -- Like Christ, and to a smaller extend, Gary Head --To the owner of the place who comes by the bank all the time. Funny part is I didn't know he was the owner of anything. I just thought I was helping, meeting and greeting. Anyways, as the story goes, he eventually approached me and asked if I'd be interested in putting myself to work at his place on weekends. Now tell me, is good God? hah... it gets better.

 I checked out an "up-and-coming hip-hop scene" last night and got to rap in front of a small crowd with this other local artist and was asked to hit up this place called, "The Lit". Apparently they do an open mic rap thing at this place every Sunday night... Needless to say, I'm going. Pretty crazy, huh. To top all of this, I was also asked to be a "regularly performing act on Tuesday nights" for a soon-to-be-disclosed venue (baaaallin'). They want to start appealing to college aged people since there's 3 colleges in the area and would like me to solidify that.. Again... Didn't ask to do this, I was ASKED to do it. It's insane. From what we got to discuss, this would be something I could do regularly every Tuesday and would really pick up during the fall-- once college students got in. Make money for rapping? Nice deal, if you ask me.

All I can say about ANY of this is... God is good. I pray he keeps me focused. I'm blessed.. I have a new place, several sources of income, an active hobby, people interested in my well being and an active community. God is just sooo good... I mean, the only major need left really is a church home, which... I'll find soon :) FYI, This will be the last personal blog I do. I'm gonna stick to a different format going forward. Why?... Well, what more would you need to know that you can't ask me?-- I'm out.