Author: Zachary Campbell

First Leg

So far, the 1st leg of the trip went well. Nampa, Idaho was the city we stayed the night in, just short of Boise. The initial part of today’s trip will be to Salt Lake City, Utah.

The hotel we stayed in last night looked a little seedy, with a notice on the front desk talking about zero tolerance for drug use and even a whiff of anything that could be construed in that direction will result in a trespass and cops called. Needless to say that I wondered what kind of people stayed there on a consistent basis.

The day started off chilly but sunny and promises warmth.

Denver on the Horizon

Today starts day one of the trip to Denver. It’s a trip to start a new chapter, a way of new beginnings. What I leave behind is incomparable to the invaluable lessons and memories I bring with me. These invaluables will be the seeds of new ways to a place that I’ve been away from for almost 30 years. The weather is good for a nice start to a long trip.

What To Do Now

In an effort to improve my situation and overcoming my grief of the recent death of my mother, I’m in the process of looking for a different job and to increase what I’m saving and investing. After leaving Safeway, an Albertson’s store, I started working for Walmart’s curbside pickup service which payed $3 more an hour and offered a 6% match after working there for a year. But, still looking for opportunity, something that will at least be tolerable if not more and help provide for a better future and retirement.

Just responded to an email from a temp agency that has a job opening for $2.25 an hour more than what I’m making at Walmart, but sounds like the hours are negotiable, with a minimum of 4 hours a day. Hoping to find out what I am able to get from them while providing a service for the company they’re the middle man for. Location for the job would be in a suburb of Chicago called Buffalo Grove. Should be able to save while in the interview and prospect stages.

Walmart’s curbside pickup position is good for the fact that I get to move around a lot more than I have as a cashier for the past 6 years. The email that I responded to would provide the opportunity I would like to have to live in the Chicago area while working to increase my future ability to become less reliant on SSI or other forms of dependence. It would be nice to live in the area again as well.

Make Known His Deeds Among The Nations

1 Chronicles 16:8 – Oh, give thanks to the LORD! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples. (NKJV)

Ezra writes how David gave praise to Jehovah after placing the Ark of the Covenant in the Tabernacle. The Book of Chronicles is an inspirational account of the history of Jerusalem, with the focus on David and an accumulative process. The books of Samuel and Kings are used for half the writing of the book and the genealogies in the beginning come from the Pentateuch. The audience for this writing is post exile and captive Israel with the writer’s desire being to emphasize the continuance of an alignment with the their past.

Giving thanks to God for all he’s done, His good and righteous acts and judgements, we are to make known God’s gracious tendencies towards His chosen people, in a physical and spiritual sense. Call upon Him and He will answer. The acts of God are worth telling to the whole world.

1 Chronicles 16: 1-7, the Ark of the Covenant is put into the Tabernacle with David offering burnt sacrifices and offerings of praise. 1 Chronicles 17: 19, 20 shows how loving God is towards His people, expressing many things and proves He’s the only God that is worthy to be known as the one and true God. Psalms 105: 1-15 show God’s faithfulness towards His physical people and spiritual children, giving many marvelous works done for them, judgements made in their favor and for their growth. This was done to help them keep in mind the covenant that He made with Abraham so that His people may be faithful to Him.

Apart from our main example Jesus Christ, David was in the line of spiritual greats, setting the example for giving thanks and praises to God, making known His deeds. With this in mind, lets hope to do the same, following the examples set before us.

Seek It In Yourselves

No man is free who is not master of himself. A man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things. The world turns aside to let any man pass who knows where he is going.” ― Epictetus

When we stop looking for happiness through external factors and start looking at cleaning, straightening, and improving the inside, our view of the world improves and by affect help improve the world around us.