Background 2000-2006

Really busy today, so now time for a post right now. But, here's a background blog I wrote a few weeks back...

Here's a very brief snapshot of my life since college - Back in 2000 I was blessed with a job working for an audio company in a division that developed surround sound systems for cars. It was a dream job. My first week I was watching the matrix in an SUV trying to track if the bullets were properly appearing to fly past my head.

The job started in Indiana for a year, and then they moved to Detroit. I didn't want to move to Detroit, so I planned to go to India for 6 months to do mission work. I had taken a trip to India my freshman year of college, and had a heart for missions as well. My company surprisingly agreed to give me a 6 month leave of absence, but then India and Pakistan seemed on the brink of nuclear war, 9/11 happened, and I got engaged to Debbie, so plans changed. Ended up taking a 2 month honeymoon/mission trip to India in 2001, and it was totally awesome. Debbie and I knew we wanted to do more mission work in the future.

Fast forward 4 years to 2006 and the job was still great, but one big downside was we were far away from family. We'd been taking many trips on the weekend each year to Debbie’s folks in WI as it was a 6 hour drive. We'd leave 5:30 Friday and get back at 2-3am Sunday night. Plus, my folks were 12 hours away so we just couldn't swing the weekend trip there so we hardly made it back to Missouri.

Anyway, even though I still had a totally awesome job and a great bunch of friends, I really felt like ultimately family should be a higher priority than even an awesome job, so we decided leave Detroit. Lots of people thought we were crazy (even some of our family! ;-) ) Looking back, there was a bit of entrepreneurial sprit in the decision too, because deep down I resented the cushy life I'd become complacent with, and wanted to challenge myself so I could grow and wouldn't regret spending the better part of my life just drifting along.

Anyway, so we left Detroit, took another mission trip to India, this time with Debbie, her Dad, Mom, Sister, and Brother-in-Law. When we got back, I was looking for a job in WI, but I was looking for another job like Harman, which didn't seem to materialize.

I did get a job offer doing a job that paid great, but I really, really, would have been unhappy with. With both of us working, we probably could have stashed away 75k after two years, enough to pay off our school debts and have a good down payment for a house. Seeking guidance from God, I felt like I was getting zero guidance when all other times the answer had always been clear. It seemed as if God was wanting me to make my choice, and see the consequences work themselves out. It felt like I was being given the responsibility, and couldn't fall back on "well, things might not have worked out as expected, but it was clearly God's will".

In the end I just couldn't bear to take the job, it went against everything I believed in when it comes to following your dreams. I realize many people would have chosen differently, especially when your decision impacts your wife as well, and I can understand that. My gut told me that if I settled for a job just for the money instead of finding what I loved doing, in the long run it just wouldn't pay off.

We ended up heading out east to PA for a year. Debbie found a dream job working with horses and also one of my best friends’ wife. They are both vets, and both love horses. Instead of taking a typical electrical engineering position, I ended up taking a job at an acoustic test lab, and even though it was more of a technician position than an engineering position, I learned a ton about acoustics, and realized that this was something I really enjoyed doing. It was a lot of fun hanging out with Matt too, playing basketball, and dominating at Age of Empires. Sometimes I'd feel bad and let him win though.

Just as an aside, it was also during our time out in PA, I started running, and eventually trained and ran a marathon starting from barely being about to run 2 miles in the winter, to a full on 26.2 by the fall. What precipitated it was when Debbie's sister Laura kicked my butt on a short run after I foolishly assumed my man determination could overcome her years of serious exercise. She must have more man determination than I.

Probably one of the most beneficial things I did out east was train for the marathon. It taught me mental determination and toughness, and showed me that often times 90% of what stood between me and my goal was my mental attitude. This has helped me in many other areas of life as well.