New Home

Howdy All,

HOME

Back to College Station feels like a homecoming.  There was no parade, no paradise, all conflicts were not solved, there was no magical job waiting for me, no perfect friends, no perfect church, and no perfect weather.  Like I said, this is home.  It simply where my family is.  Those whom I grew with both in human terms and in my relationship with the Lord. I would not give up my time in Findlay, but it is good to be back.

HOUSTON

Houston is where my family is and now I am a short 2 hour drive away. I was able to partake in family activity such as moving my sisters across the city in the blazing heat.  I am not being sarcastic here when I say that I missed these types of things. I was growing away from that in Findlay. It is family that asks you to sacrifice and serve. Still hot and humid, but it feels like home for the first time...ever.  That means a lot.

The food is still great too.

COLLEGE STATION

I am living with a 3 brothers in Christ near campus.  I am going to Emmanuel Baptist church who has the focus of Preaching Christ and Him crucified Verse by Verse. This is why I like this.

1 Corinthians 2

1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony[a] of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human[b]wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

With this there is a large focus in making Disciples and teaching them all that Jesus commanded them. This is why I like this.

Matthew 28

16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore[c] and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always,even to the end of the age.” Amen.[d]

This church is also very evangelical.  Not in the sense that every new convert is thrown out on the street corner to shout at people, but rather quite the opposite. Learning the character of God, through His word, with unpacking the text and not filtering it (going through verse by verse and relying on the Spirit) can only result in the desire to share the good news.  With this church I will have brothers, beside me in fellowship, above me as teachers, an below me to teach, who know God as a God who saves, and know the world as a place that they are glad to be free from the bondage of. For there is bondage in sin and freedom in Christ.

(Romans 5-8) <http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%203-8&version=NKJV

There is a focus to equip us to share His character through his word, get saved from our sins, and tell others about not our perfection (not going to happen) but rather God's Perfect Love.

1 John 4

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Challenging but very good. We are challenged and encourage by each other, and saved by God.  To respond, we tell others.

This is some of the stuff that I will be going over. http://www.truthfreesus.com/discipleship.php

Check it out.  What you you think?

JOB

Tutoring job at night has a great potential. I have the opportunity to teach Freshmen College Calc and Physics. and to make a little to a good bit of money too.  I am also exploring HR, Financial advising, Engineering, and College teaching. But I am falling short in patience, so I ask for prayers.

STRENGTHS

Also I took a strengths test and here are the results:

Ideation- I like ideas, thinking of them, hearing about them.

Maximizer- I enjoy getting the best out of a situation. This defiantly revolves around the ability to use innovation as self-motivation.  

Individualization - I am intrigued by the individual, and building relationships. It interests me to know the individual's needs and I am very cautious about applying a single system to every type of person, because they are not all the same.

Includer -  I want everyone to be included on what is going on.  Seeking the person by themselves at church and wanting to never limit who can come to a dinner, a mission trip, and so on. This causes problems, I would like to use it though where it could be useful.

Woo (Winning Others Over) - I like people to like me. This has been and can be a great weakness. When this is matched with God's Word as the authority in my life, the Lord has shown me that people liking me will mean nothing if they don't know Jesus, and if they do come to know Jesus, then they will be equipped to love their brother and probably like the one who told them above how to be saved from their sins.

So I can harness that for life, but how do I use that in a job?

I suppose you could use these in any job, but i want to know in what job I could be most competitive with these strengths. **What do you think? Send me what you think if it sounds like a career, I would love to hear your thoughts.

THATS IT

That is a run down. Always feel free to call, I cannot guaranty a great frequency of updates, but I will try.

Missing the people of Findlay, but happy to be home.

Praise God for all.

-Eric Benzenhoefer

Thank God for Sovereignty

Greetings
I know now one thing about myself. I am not the type of person who would keep a blog up to date. I am sorry for not being more faithful to it, but I hope that I have been more faithful to those that I have communicated with by phone. Below are something that the Lord has been teaching me, what has been going on, and what is next.

-Proverbs 3:11-12 "My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights"

The time in Findlay has come with trial, refining, joy, challenge, revelation (truths that have existed for years but are new to me [you can insert your own word here if you are gifted with words {no really I am curious what word would be better than revelation here, please tell me}]), sorrow, confusion,the mystery of what is to come, patience, clarity, peace, and more Joy!

A lot to be thankful for. He has provided a job during a recession, friends in a distance home, opportunities to see my family, and christian brothers for growth and accountability.

I boast in the Lord as I have seen him lead people to marriage, mend marriages, draw people close to Him, and break the bondage of sin and save people. The Lord did this work, and it was a joy to be a witness to it.

Sin in my life included the self-pity of someone who did not know what the next step in life the Lord had for me, laziness in pursuit of what the Lord had for me, dark times without prayer and the Word.

Growth has come from the Lord as he fueled repentance in the above areas. Praise God. He has showed me how great each day is when seeking Him through trust, prayer, and being in his Word. He showed me that one day walking with him is far greater than many without seeking my own joy.

So here is what has been going on.

Summary:

• Spent a Month on the road in Indiana on a Hydro-test (Oct-Nov...in'08...not a blogger i suppose)
• Learned that Hydro-testing is not quite my thing.
• Was guided by mentor at Marathon wonderfully with this new information.
• Went to Texas for Christmas.
• Learned that Winter in Ohio no joke.
• Resigned my position at Marathon.
• Started working for my friend helping him flip houses.
• I forgot what +30 deg F feels like
• God provided a tutoring position at the local Community College
• Grandmother passed away after a long and hard fought war with Lung cancer
• Was able to spend my birthday with my parents in Pittsburgh
• Was able to get closer to my family in Pittsburgh
• Was not sure where the Lord wanted me, so I stayed in Findlay for the summer.
• Grandpa passed away
• Spent a week with immediate and extended family in Pittsburgh
• Started to look at new paths for my career including Actuarial science, applied math, industrial engineering, teaching, and tutoring
• Spring is unreal, I just want to run around outside and jump around (+50 deg F !)
• Planted a 0.000688 acre farm (30 sq ft)
• Summer in Ohio is beautiful (65 deg at night and 70-78 during the day)
• Summer is ending.

Next Season

At this time my heart tells me two things:

#1. There is no joy like walking with the Lord, experiencing His character in his Word, and entering the rest of prayer. So I will continue to seek the Lord.

#2. The season of Findlay is over, and it is time to come back to Texas.

#2 is less certain my mind than #1 but this is where my peace comes from. God is Sovereign. He is in control. Whether in Texas, Ohio, or anywhere he has still given me great task of serving Him. This is what I will do and for the next season, it looks like it will be in Texas for now.

So I will be in College Station Monday August 3rd to start a new job tutoring, will be looking for a cheap place to live with other christian brothers, and I am very excited.

This has been a great year in Findlay, I would not trade it for another (people always say this as if the was some market for trading years of your life. I don't think that there is, but I'd rather cover all my bases). I will miss the people, the summers, and not the winter.

Praise the Lord

Hope to see many of you all soon.

-Eric

The Job

Big question I get a lot is "How's the Job?" People often rag on small talk, but from my experience, even a polite question is better then the person who will defy all logic and pretend that you don't exist, avoid eye contact, and not talk to you at all.

I hope that you read that and are confused as that it has never happened to you.

But what a joy it is when people ask small talk questions with no desire for small talk, but rather to truly get more involved with your life. Amazing to think about how simple small talk questions such as:

How is it going? How is your day? How's the new Job? can be very surface questions or very Loving prompts to a meaningful time to get closer to your friends and family.

I am going to assume that the latter is true for the reader because if not...probably would stop reading. Which is ok. I would Love to stay in touch keep a great relationship with everyone God has put in my life but, that time would have to come from somewhere. I feel like the people in Findlay are gifts too and more and more I am able to be in situations to invest in them.

The Job: Project Leader Marketing and Transportation Pipeline Integrity North Division: Hydro Team

I lead projects on Pipes. These pipes transport petroleum products all around the country but I am focus on the ones in the north in IL, IN, OH, KY and PA. We focus on maintaining the pipe's integrity so that one drop of oil will touch the ground. We do this by Hydro-Testing the lines.

Hydro Testing is pretty simple to explain. Pipes are under a high pressure when you are moving the oil around the country. We want to make sure the pipe doesn't break and spill oil in the ground or in a river ect. So we empty the pipe of oil, fill it with water, and then put the water in the pipe under a really high pressure to find and break the weak spots of the pipe. Then we fix the breaks and test the pipe again. We do this until the whole pipe passes the test. Then we are done.

Kind of like, if you can lift 160 pound routinely, then 100 lbs will be no sweat. The same is true for the pipe.

With that said...I dont know how to do that. I dont know anything about pipes, pumps, oil, transporting it, Marathon Acronyms, marathon Safety regulations, or much of anything related to what is expected of me. There are plenty of people to answer question, but what do I ask? It is like the game 20 questions except, neither me nor the person I am asking the questions has any Idea what conclusion we are trying to get to.

They say it will get better and I know it will. They say I will look back and wonder how I could have ever been so lost. I am sure I will. Really I do but that doesn't help the hear and now. I am trying to be honest, not negative here. It just doesn't.

I move from a place where I was successful and respected. The Lord put me in a church and surrounded me with people who would trust me. He worked great things through me and the gifts were manifested through measurable success.

Here there is no success, there is only trail. There is only time to learn.

I am depressed? No. Not close. Praise His name for that.

Am I sad and frustrated some times? Oh yea. But why?

There is such joy in the obedience to the Word as it frees you from bondage. Col 3 : 1-4

Colossians 3Put On the New Self 1(A) If then you have been raised with Christ, seek(B) the things that are above, where Christ is,(C) seated at the right hand of God. 2(D) Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3For(E) you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ(F) who is your[a] life(G) appears, then you also will appear with him(H) in glory.

And later on in the very chapter is conviction of my heart

Colosians 3
23(BA) Whatever you do, work heartily,(BB) as for the Lord and not for men

Working for the Lord is not what my days have been. I day dream, complain, get frustrated, get angry, get lazy, get sleepy, get disinterested... and much more. That is my day at work. It is terrible to work like this for myself in that it is the longest 9 hours there is, for Marathon because they are paying me to work for them and that in time I be trained and competent, and for the Lord who gave me such gifts and who demands more.

So I try to stay awake and engaged in the conversation, but I end up confused and in a day dream. I sit to focus on work training, but my computer goes to the screensaver as I ponder the future succes of the Pittsburgh Steelers 2nd year linbackers. I could list plenty of others but the day dreaming is bad enough to derail my training and leave me confused at my desk with everything to do and no way to do it.
My friend ministered to me on the phone with a simple act. He brought the Word to me and suggested that I pray about it.

Mark 11
The Lesson from the Withered Fig Tree
20(AB) As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. 21And Peter remembered and said to him,(AC) "Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered." 22And Jesus answered them, "Have(AD) faith in God. 23(AE) Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain,(AF) 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and does not(AG) doubt in his heart, but(AH) believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. 24Therefore I tell you,(AI) whatever you ask in prayer,(AJ) believe that you(AK) have received[c] it, and it will be yours. 25And whenever(AL) you stand praying,(AM) forgive,(AN) if you have anything against anyone, so that(AO) your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses."[d]

I came to the Lord in Prayer and thanked Him for all the gifts and blessing including just the ability to come through the one mediator Jesus and pray.

1 Timothy 2
Pray for All People 1First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2(A) for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and(B) dignified in every way. 3This is good, and(C) it is pleasing in the sight of(D) God our Savior, 4who desires(E) all people to be saved and(F) to come to(G) the knowledge of the truth. 5For(H) there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man[a] Christ Jesus, 6(I) who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is(J) the testimony given(K) at the proper time.

And I forgave! Because it was not the fault of Marathon or my coworkers that my job was rough and I had no reason to feel anger towards them.

And asked to be His servant and for the gift to be able to work as if I was working for him.

Unbelievable. Truly amazing the difference. I did not gain understanding of all that is Marathon, I was not fully equipped for my job, and I did not receive any promotion for turning salt water into fuel...working on it though. Its harder than I thought that it would be...mostly due to the need to break thermodynamic laws.

I was not raised up by human standards but rather I was able to work all day. I was engaged all day and the day dreaming was not a big factor that day. I didnt clock watch, I just worked.

What a Joy that is as the Lord Desires it for us and commanded and it brings Joy.

Unbelievable as it was I was foolish enough to not pray but 3 times in 2 weeks for the gift of the Lord to enable me to work as if I was working for him.

I ask for your prayer for brokenness to pray.

*****************************

As I pick up this blog entry weeks later, the trend continues between prayer and successful days.

And the days are getting better. Understanding is coming more and more of the job.

I am not 100% comfortable in this new life but I am enjoying the ride. I miss my friends at school from Texas who are growing more and more in their lives, and I am missing it. Friends that have gone back to China and friends above the age of 25 that I could be learning from.

I would rather be close enough to my family to each lunch with each of my parents and each of my sisters just once a month and eat as a family every Sunday.

But at the same time I have been able to see the Pittsburgh side of my family more times in the past 3 months then it seems like I did all of College.

I am meeting new people in Findlay to pour into and to be poured into from.

I love cold weather. I have had my windows wide open so much. I have slept about 30 nights in 60-70 deg fresh air, inside my home. Soon the leaves will change and then will snow!

Ice Hockey season starts Monday!

I love being able to walk to work downtown from the suburbs of Findlay, all in about 10 minutes.

Do those balance? To the pro's out weigh the con's? Do I spend the next 20 yrs, or even 5 years in Findlay?

I dont know. and Wisdom tells me not to dwell on it.

Matthew 6:34

Do Not Worry 25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[b]?
28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

So that is what I will do.

I am sorry that it took so long for this second blog but I am very thankful of any conversation that I have on the phone with all of you.


Please give me a call if you want to know more, or if my sentence structure and/or spelling errors prevent you from extracting any information from this blog.

Next post should be about the month that I am on the Hydrotest in Griffith Indiana from Late Oct. to mid November, the Discipleship relationship I am beginning with a guy from my new church, and what ever else is going on. I would not expect any update on my project of turning saltwater into fuel though. That one is just not going to happen.

Arrival

Here I am in Findlay Ohio. For those that don't know, I was real close to dropping engineering and going in to full time mission work. Or at least what I thought was full time mission work at the time. Over the course of the next few months, the Lord really showed me that my life as it was then in college station had so many opportunities for mission work that I passed on as a disobedience to Gods calling. I was convicted too that I really was not open to what the Lord had for me in my future, but rather I wanted my way and then I would make it fit to be in service to Him.


Well a real huge wave of job rejections hit me as well as many other heavy convictions hit me around in November. This was it this was the time for me that God put the plow before me and said take hold of it now to look back. Which is big because in Luke 62 Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."


That was the time in my life when feel I really started to understand repentance.
<http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%2017:30,%20proverbs%2028:13,%201%20john%201:8-9,%202%20corinthians%207:9-10&version=47>

The next semester was one where I felt it was time to die to myself including in my occupation.


Luke 9:23 'Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.' So I went and searched hard for a mission job. I went to the Go Missions conference and gave a request for full time employment to 40-some tables.


This is where God revealed that my mission field was not there, as only one person contacted me back with any serious conversation. Instead it was time to go back to the engineering table. My parents made it very clear, while supporting whatever final choice I made, that it would be a waste of the gift that it my college education to not even try to use it. Honoring my parents in this case I read as getting back the to the Engineering career fair.

So to the Spring '08 career fair I went. Now there are hundreds of companies and it is suggested that in order to be prepared for a career fair you must 'simply' research the companies to find out what the job would be like and if you are a good fit for the company. Then during the interviews they can decide if you are a good fit for them. That would take a long time though to search through 200 companies. And that is not what I call 'simple'. Wrestling Puppies...that is simple... puppies are small, weak, and have no concept of the game we are playing.


I instead put faith in the Lord to guide this process through prayer. And when I arrived at the career fair, I spoke with the people I felt were brought to me, and the 4 hours later when I was tired, I left trusting that the Lord had already gotten me the interview with the company I was supposed to work for. As it happens I did have an interview with Marathon before I left the building that day.

My interviews were tough in that I had to keep my focus on honouring the Lord above myself. At first I was a bit worried that if I talked about God in the interviews, that no one would want me to work for them as someone claiming there best achievements as ot there own but works of the Lord who was kind enough to let me witness them. But it came quite easy, and the people were interested in what the Lord had done in my life.

Sometimes the interview was completely derailed, but it was ok in fact it was Joyful and satisfying and comforting to know that I was able to not put in a shift for God and then my wage will be a good job. But rather I am free under grace to be honest about how great He is. Freedom in Christ experience through the obedience.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=52&chapter=4&version=47


I got the job here at Marathon after all was done and now before the job starts it has been great to see all the ways that this town which I feel that the Lord has chosen for me, suits me so well. It is small, I got the grand tour in about 2 hours, it has lots of parks, there is great food, and I have a very cheap house in a great neighborhood with a front porch and Land lord that almost encourage drilling into the wall.

I count the blessings now, but I can also start to count the cost. I don't know how long I will have to job but I doesn't matter. I don't know how I will be able to share the gospel with people living deeply and outward joyfully in every sin Paul talks about creeping into the early churches.

But it seems like those cost have in the past, through an obedience to the great commission and the wisdom of 2 tim 2
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Timothy%202:16;&version=47;

from what I understand is the gospel and not fancy explanations from my own head, have only turned in to more joys. On not earthly joys of good movies, good sport plays, the drunken nights of my past, fulfilled lusts of my heart, but real joy through seeing people grow in the Lord in your fellowship of a church and seeing people meet to Lord for the first time. There is not a comparison looking back.

Up to the point of June 30th, when I should have written this as I had promised, thanks to everyone who took time out of their settled life and spent some time on the phone with me in my newer and less settled life.

I am not a proponet of too much profreading, so if you find errors, please accept that as a gift from me form the bottom of my heart and the back of my unfocused brain that did not read enough as a child.