jump

Well, in my 11 month journey for a paycheck (ha!) I have a new chapter. I have started my own consulting firm, Contagious Solutions, LLC. I am specializing and helping businesses, organizations and churches create an online presence and a niche community through Web 2.0 tools. I already have 2 clients, and I am working on two or three more - which would be all I could handle, and would finally mean a paycheck!!!

Very excited, check out the site and let me know what you think!

Things in the Steward family over the past year have certainly been crazy. We have found that there is so much going on at a crazy pace that it has been hard to keep everyone informed as to just where we are at in this journey. So, here is the update email to get you up to speed:

1. Tony is still unemployed: YES, that’s right and frustratingly true (about 10 months now). I still do not have a job, but that is not for lack of processes and opportunities. I am in the process (as I have been for 5 months) in coming on staff at Saddleback Church in Southern California. The job will deal in two major areas, leading a large team of volunteers and directing the use of a specific blog and podcast. We are excited to jump into this, we are still just waiting on the powers that be to do what they do.

2. We are moving: if you’ve followed this blog I just put up a funny post about how we found out we are needing to now move from our condo. This is a good thing though cause trying to fit a family of 5 into a two bedroom condo that is only 970 square feet was getting a little cramped! We are more excited than worried about this and are in the midst of new home hunt!

3. Mandy and Scrap Girls: If it wasn’t my wildly talented wife and her job with ScrapGirls.com we wouldn’t still be out here. God always seems to provide just enough (even if barely) with this, but we are blessed by His providence!

Those are the biggies, if you have questions let me know in the comments!

[UPDATE] This never became a paying job, but I was in a position to do the job without pay until the end of June 2007 for Saddleback Church.

Susan Mernit’s Blog:

“We have to get rid of the life that we have planned to have the life that is waiting for you. The old skin has to be shed before the new one can come.”
- Mythmaker Joseph Campbell

I happened to find this video in my phone tonight. It is a 30 second shot of our Uhaul when I went to sift through the remains after it was stolen with everything we owned inside.

What is an even greater testimony is how God has used that violation and evil that happened to do miraculous things. And now even though the Las Vegas police called us last week to tell they had arrested the thieves that had been behind the thefts (yes there were at least 50 last year), we realized that God has completely provided for us - and we don’t need any of that stuff. Most of what you see in the video was luckily a majority of our sentimental items.

This is a landmark in our lives where God undeniably showed up. Just a moment I wanted to share.

What an incredible few days it has been for the Steward family here in sunny California. The response from our friends and family and the staff people from Saddleback church has been such a blessing. God has been glorified in this entire process as people are banding together to be the church and meet us in a time of great need.

We are still watching movies and TV on my Powerbook (thanks iTunes!) while sitting on beach chairs. And we don’t have pots or pans yet so it is still pizza rolls and deli sandwiches for food. And we are constantly remembering things we have lost that just make us sick. Like all the work my wife had on her computer for her work with Scrap Girls and all of my reference materials and commentaries I had packed. But we couldn’t be more excited at what God is up to in our lives. A new friend here said to us, “Well if you were looking to come here and get connected, mission accomplished!” We are being so blessed to hear the stories of people’s lives that work on staff here at Saddleback, and to see how God is so much bigger than the small boxes we like to put him in.

We are still not quite sure what we will be doing here as the more people we meet it seems the more possibilities emerge. But our main goal is to still be involved here to learn and experience THE Purpose Driven church, especially in regards to the day to day practicality of touching the hearts and lives of people here in Orange County.

And if nothing else we have vividly learned that God always provides for his children, that he is always faithful no matter how bad it seems, and that prayer and faith are so much powerful than most of us ever realize.

Thanks again to everyone that has helped and provided for us, you have been able to comfort even our parents who were as heartbroken and sickened for us as one could get.

God Bless!

Well, it is hard to know how to start a blog like this, but we have hit a “bump” in the road in our trip out to California. As we stayed in Las Vegas overnight on the 13th our uHaul with everything we own was stolen from the hotel parking lot where we were staying.

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After the shock, the police reports, a few tears and lots of phone calls - we are okay. We have finally gotten to our new home in California safe and sound and it is great, though empty. And as word as gotten out about our situation the response from people has been unbelievable. I am not going to get into specifics, but the people from Saddleback have been amazing for barely knowing us, a church that we were a part of two years ago in Canton, Oh has taken up a love offering for us and is sending us a check, and other dear friends are chipping in and helping us out. What an amazing thing the CHURCH is when it is moved to loving action!

We know that what happened was because of evil/selfish people, that God didn’t do this to us. Just that realization has brought so much peace, that it really does pass all understanding. And it has been life changing to see how God has shown up and is pouring down his blessings upon us. More than ever we are confident that we are where God wants us, despite how satan would try to discourage us.

The best thing I have experienced so far was when my father and Pastor Ken from Faith Faith church in Canton, prayed with me over the phone. When Pastor Ken prays you can almost feel Satan shaking in fear at the power of God, haha! When they were done praying for us my comment was, “Man, those guys and satan had no idea what power they were getting in the way of when they took that truck..!”

So, we are putting the pieces back together, and God is blessing us. I am not worried about the material loss, though the loss of all our personal information and such is very disheartening.

But more than anything our faith in God and his faithfulness is as strong as ever. He has been vivid in the midst of this move, the cross country trip, and now in this great loss.

Please be in prayer for us, mainly that we can keep our personal information from being mis-used and that we can get on our feet here, but also for our hearts and our children. They don’t have anything normal to make this feel like home, and they are noticeably out of sorts.

More than anything, please just pray - but know that God is definitely listening!

I will post updates of how things go here consistently.

…
ouch
…

That was the longest and hardest day of travel I have ever experienced.
Highlights:
1. Rockies: They are beautiful, it was one majestic scene after another, especially Frisco. But it was hard to look at them since I feared for my life a majority of the time. I am a scaredy cat when it comes to driving on mountains with a fully loaded and underpowered uHaul. ugh…
2. The Day Ended: Yes, finally 13 hours after we started driving, we stopped.
3. Over Half way: today we crossed way over the halfway point for our trip.
4. Total Mileage: we went something like 631 miles today…
5. Denver: We came, we saw, we left.
6. Early Start: I was able to get up at 5:30 am and got us on the road by 7 am, good thing two.

Today was just hard, but I am believing that tomorrow will be smooth sailing all the way to Las Vegas. Please pray for us and our travel weary clan!