My Three Jobs

Matt here. With the prospect of bringing two children home (not just one), new questions have raised about our life. Because my salary with New Hope International is support-based, even with my part-time (12 hrs/week) job in the Asbury College Library Archives, we are going to need a lot more income to care for a family, especially because our current two-bedroom apartment living arrangement will not be sufficient for long. I had also been considering, at the urging of some people at the College, to pursue a graduate degree in library science at the Univ. of Kentucky, a terminal degree in the library field that would qualify me for faculty status and give me some stable career options. I was thinking of beginning next fall, but that would be more expense.

Last week the job of Office Manager opened at our local public library. I applied, interviewed, and was offered the job. This 38 hr/week job is a rather sudden and somewhat unexpected development. (An added benefit is that this job qualifies me to receive some significant financial assistance in the graduate degree program at UK.) To maintain my connection with Asbury, I hope to continue with my 12 hr/week job in the Archives. (That is only a 9-month job, so I will not have to work it during the summer.)

So what does this mean for my work at New Hope? It will be difficult, but I do intend to continue most of my work with New Hope for two reasons: (1) I do not yet feel released from this area of ministry, and (2) it will continue to provide a small additional income as we try to save for the adoption, larger living space, and grad school (not to mention the expense of supporting a growing family). I intend to continue my work with New Hope on nights and weekends at least through the end of the summer 2008, at which point we will reevaluate. There are many things going on at New Hope with which I am involved and that still demand my attention, so I will continue to do much of what I do now for NHIM, though perhaps at odd hours. Much of what I do with New Hope is increasingly done by email anyway, and I will be able to continue to monitor that wherever I am working. I will also be delegating more tasks to our student workers under my supervision. I feel that, though I will be pulled in more directions now, I still have valuable and crucial service to offer to that ministry.

So...three jobs...yikes. Pray for me that I will have strength and wisdom as I try, with God's help, to make this all work.