the result

Not what you thought.  It's not good.  We got passed over.  :-(  And this is really not good news.  When you are passed over, you are like the red-headed step-child (I'm sorry if that offends anyone, it's an old phrase).  You don't get the choice jobs, because they want the choice jobs to go to the guys who have a chance at promotion.  The chance of getting picked up "above the zone" is very slim.  Like 5%.  So, your career is over.  Yes, there are some who linger for years...  Who knows?  We may fall into that group...

I'm doing my best to not think of this as bad news.  Yes, it's disappointing.  But my head keeps telling me that God is in control and has another plan in store for us.  My heart is trying to catch up with my head.  (I've got a bruised ego, you know)

I Thessalonians 5: 16-18 "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

So I spent a significant amount of time in prayer yesterday.  I was picking apart a cooked chicken (great way to soften your hands) for a meal that I'm taking to a new mom today.  As usual, when I make meals for other people, I pray for that family while I'm fixing it.  So I started to pray for them, and all these other people came to mind and I prayed for them, and then I started to count my blessings.  Boy, let me tell you, that was a good time.  Good for my soul.  I'm really trying to not even go down the road of bitterness, and desperately trying to not talk bad about the person who we feel is the reason that Gary got passed over.  (yes, that sentence needs restructuring)  I need to work on the "be joyful always".  I so dearly want a pity party!  Have you ever felt that??  But a pity party gets you nowhere.  And who wants to be pitied?  So my new quest is to find that joy.  To anticipate what God has in store for us next.  Because, he may be saving us from certain disaster or saving us for some exciting adventure!  His plans are always better than ours, and let me tell you, our plans had us pegged to get promoted, work a few years and retire sometime at a good pay scale (very safe and milqtoast).  We may stay here another year.  I'm not sure that our Hawaiian adventure is over with.  I definitely felt that God had something in store for me to do with Asian people - I don't know whether Japanese, Korean, Chinese, or who  - so maybe that will come into play.

Ahhh.   There it is.  Hope.  That's what I had forgotten.  Yes.  Hope as in, looking forward to, anticipation, expectation.