Unemployed Chronicles #13: I have not posted an Unemployed Chronicles in a while. Felt good to be honest. I love to share what is on my heart and mind, encourage others, and see others be encouraged by the Word of God through these posts. But there was a point where it seem like I was putting too much effort in this than any other time I have done it. When I could be putting much more effort into my business and caring for my family. Also, there hasn't been much advancement with my applications, just denials left and right. A few weeks ago, one morning when I was praying on my way to trucking school, I poured out my heart to the LORD. During my prayer to the LORD, He revealed to me the condition of my heart, what part I need to work on with Him while He breaks me down and builds me back up. It came back to the Fruits of the Spirit, which are: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control. The Sunday prior to this morning prayer, the sermon at church touch upon the Fruits of the Spirit and how if we lack any of them to seek them and ask for God to pour more of Him in you. Desire not only the Gifts of the Spirit but the Fruits as well. The Fruits are the outward expressions of God's character on display through our lives as believers. Which Fruit do I lack in? It is Gentleness. At times I can be harsh with my words even if they are words with good intentions and full of love, but not everyone can handle the kind of love a New Yorker expresses, so I have to be more lowly and humble in my gentleness. As I started to work on this with God and giving Him every flaw I can think of. My soul feels His everlasting peace. Every denial or ghosted response I receive, its just another confirmation that God is leading the charge in this fight. Christ is a conqueror of hearts. His purpose in my life is greater than the one I have planned before me. While God is molding me into the likeness of the Son, Christ Jesus; He is also providing for my family and I. Just recently, people have been reaching out for potential work to be done for their business, SaaS, or Startup ideas. Either organic search, conversations with my network, or word of mouth referral. I am planning on recording a podcast episode or a series of episodes for codeFellowship( ) regarding this Spiritual Journey and Transformation that God is taking me through. As developers, we think it is the end or a long dreadful desert when we get laid off, but there is something much more to it than just a layoff. If we are followers of Christ, it is much more. It is a brewing testimony, a realtime witnessing of the power, grace, and mercy of God. "3 So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do." - Jeremiah 18:3-4. ESV #DevsForChrist

Unemployed Chronicles #11: I’m going back to school. Yesterday, I got an acceptance letter from Southern New Hampshire University. I’m going to be pursuing a Bachelors in Cybersecurity. Starting date is set for October 27th but I am planning on starting in January 2026 since right now I’m taking an opportunity to go to trucking school with my VA Benefits so I can provide for my family in the meantime while I still pursue the next role in tech and move on up to the Cybersecurity world. Trucking school is about 4-5 weeks. Not a stranger to it since I got trucking experience from my time in the Army as an 88M but unfortunately didn’t get my CDL packet signed off when exiting the military since the command at the time was transitioning. These decisions aren’t from desperation but from past discussions with my wife and with God. This early morning we were laying in bed and I poured my heart out to her about how last night and this morning I started to experience intrusive thoughts and feeling fear of failure. As I was speaking with my wife, I told her about a video I saw last night in where this business man told the interviewer about a life advice regarding finding a woman that doesn’t become a part of a problem but is part of the solution. The Lord my God has blessed me with a wife that lifts me up when I feel defeated and always points me to Jesus Christ. Reminds me of my identity in Christ and where my strength, courage, faith, love, grace and boldness lies in Christ. And even has taken the time to process my spoken out loud thoughts and reasoned with me to come up with a plan to place in God’s hands for the benefit of our family. I am not giving up. I’m just pivoting. My life is not my own but it’s God’s and His will and purpose for my life is greater than any plans I have developed. I remember when I made the decision to get into tech was to provide a better future for my family but eventually was moved by God to serve Him in this field and that is when codeFellowship( ) was born. Every company I have worked for has a been a mission that God has taken me through and today I can say with certainty that God has touched the lives of many just by the step of obedience I took. Every layoff I have experience was just a confirmation that the mission was complete in that respective place. Obedience is a key part to walking in faith and not by sight. “And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.” - 1 Samuel 15:22 ESV “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” - Galatians 2:20 ESV #DevsForChrist

Cool to see faith\.tools, codeFellowship(), and Christian Tech Jobs on there. Props @praison !

Praise & Glory to our God Almighty. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” - John 14:27 ESV Would love to get you on the codeFellowship podcast some time brother.

Time got away from me as this was happening. But one thing that impacted me in my devotional this morning is the reminder of redeeming the time for the KING. This is a form of worship to record, edit, produce, and upload these podcast episodes. The Lord called me to it about 3yrs ago now and confirmed it as a Ministry last year in April. But since then, so many challenges have become obstacles and I have been a bad steward. But this morning the Lord encouraged me to not ponder on the time wasted but redeem it with the time He has given me for the day. So my commitment to God over the weekend is to upload the remaining episodes of Season 5 and schedule to go live throughout this week. I will also be planning episodes without guests and putting serious effort in finishing the build out of the codeFellowship website and then work on the codeFellowship platform this year. Also, if you got any suggestions on how I should register this ministry, let me know. My DMs are open for discussion. God Bless you all. And Happy New Year!

I have been taking time to see what God has done this year and the valleys He has walked me through. From another layoff to speaking at conferences, starting my own consulting/dev company, acquiring clients, and starting a new dev role while running my own company full-time. I am excited to see what the Lord has in store for codeFellowship, Redemptive Software, and my family for the remainder of the year and the upcoming year. #DevsForChrist #FaithOverFear

So good to see a brother from the codeFellowship community on The Save File. Can't wait to check out the replay recording of the episode. #DevsForChrist #TheSaveFile

Today I will be announcing the winners of the @ThatConference codeFellowship giveaway. I might do a stream. Not sure, gotta look at the work schedule and my workload for the day. #THATConference

2 Days Left on the @ThatConference @code_fellowship giveaway for tickets to THAT WI. 5 individual tickets to giveaway. Winners will be announced on Monday, June 10th, 2024. kingsumo.com/g/jfruzf/that-c… #THATConference #codeFellowship

Time is flying. Head over to youtube.com/@codefellowship and watch the latest podcast episode to find out how you can win a 3-Day Camper ticket to @ThatConference in WI this summer! If you want to bring the family, you can use “codefellowship” for 25% off your purchase until May 31st. #THATConference

I have the immense privilege to partner with @ThatConference to give away 5 Individual 3-Day Camper Tickets to THAT @ Wisconsin this Summer. THAT WI is from July 29th - August 1st. It is the best camp experience for geeks you can ever attend. Enter to Win Here - kingsumo.com/g/xyqpkq/that-c… If you want to bring your family along with you, you can go to thatconference.com/ and use the discount code: codefellowship at checkout. #THATConference #Tech #Community #DevsForChrist

🎉🎉codeFellowship Giveaway🎉🎉 I will be giving away 5 tickets to @ThatConference Wisconsin starting next week. Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to the channel - youtube.com/@codefellowship to learn more on how to enter to win. #THATConference #Giveaway #DevsForChrist

So many amazing conversations I have had with amazing folks these past couple of weeks while being guests on the codeFellowship podcast. The backlog is full and being edited. Because of this, I will be releasing 2 episodes per week, God-willing. So you have plenty to listen to while coding, driving, or cleaning the house. God is good. Overwhelmingly good. In Jesus Name...Amen! #DevsForChrist #faithtech #podcast

I am looking forward to God is going to do with codeFellowship in 2024.

It is official! codeFellowship got the Blue Twix Check Mark.

@techdufus is teaching and demonstrating @Neovim and the benefits of using Neovim as the choice of code editing experience via the codeFellowship( ) Discord Community. This is our first community event! Exciting times 🎉 #coding #community #neovim

🙌 God is so good! 🙏🏻 I was able to recover some codeFellowship podcast design assets from a malfunction external harddrive. I am currently rendering Bible verses in a code format for the video version of the podcast.

Finally able to sit down and edit Season 3 Episode 2 of the codeFellowship podcast. @LawrenceDCodes and I had an amazing episode, and I cannot wait to share it with you guys.

Yesterday it was an honor and pleasure to have @LawrenceDCodes on codeFellowship for a podcast recording. I just wanted to inform you guys, that the editing of S3 Ep2 will be occurring as of today. Downloading files as we speak! #coding #faith #podcast

While the official website is under development with Astro Front Matter CMS, I thought I would just get an MVP going within @hashnode. I have a specific vision for the codeFellowship website and I definitely do not want to rush it. Thankful to God for platforms like Hashnode.