June is almost gone and first post of the month.

Wow, it's June 20th and this is the first post I've done this month. Sorry everyone!

Actually, if some of you read this in the next 5-8 hours, you'll be reading about the future because it's not the 20th there yet.

So, why have I not posted in almost 3 weeks?
Some days, I am crashing as I walk into my trailer.
Some days, I finish working after midnight and need to get to sleep.
Other days, I spend 2-3 hours at night catching up from being in the field the entire day and just go to sleep after that.

In short, I've been working about 70-85 hours a week in June. It's been crazy busy, ups and downs (mostly downs) with the network. Peter left the base to elope 2 weeks ago, which happened to be the same day our lead field tech left to renew his badge. That left me with 5 Egyptian field workers and 5 Indian salespeople.

The day after Peter and Habib left, things started going down. The VoIP network went down Monday, then again on Tuesday, then the Internet network on Wednesday, both networks on Thursday. I was so frustrated and angry at different things.
Why did the network have to start dropping like that once the main guys left?? The Egyptians needed an escort and couldn't do much work because I was in the NOC trying to fix the downtimes. I was going insane.

Unfortunately, it wasn't until Luke (Peter's brother) and their dad showed up and helped out with the network issues, that I realized there was no need for my anger and frustration. There are better ways to view problems such as these and my thoughts led me to write the following:
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Quite often, we think that we have things figured out. Especially things about ourselves. For instance, after many years, you kind of get to a point where you've figured out the best way to learn - in regards to yourself. Each person learns in different ways and at different paces. There's always a "best" way to learn. But what you have to realize is that this "best" way to learn is not always the best way.

God, of course, always knows the best way for each of us to learn in each scenario. There are times when YOUR best way to learn just won't work and, the stubborn beings we are, we refuse to try something that isn't the way we like learning. Why? Because we figured out the best way to learn right?
Well, in these situations, do not be surprised if you suddenly go through tough times. As much as I hate going through tough times, if I look at it the right way, I see that I learn a lot in a short amount of time, even though I was frustrated and felt miserably lost or overwhelmed.

We should always keep in mind that bad things aren't always bad. Quite often they'll lead to something of greater good than the hardship we experienced. Sometimes these things happen to make us stronger and even if you think, "This isn't how I learn and grow!!!" Maybe it's how God wants you to learn and grow for that particular situation!

You might then ask, "So God inflicts pain and suffering on us to make us learn?" Don't put any blame on God. If God is behind the hardship, merely allowing such to happen, then it is likely that we wanted to do something our way. God's way is always best and He desires the best for us! Hardships can be punishment, but punishment is an awakening to a wrong done by us. If we've done wrong, we should accept the punishment due to us. We've sinned, we always sin every day. What gives us the right to complain about being punished?

Remember, hardships are not always punishment. Hardships can also be tests of faith. Hardships can be Satan's attempts to inflict pain on us or draw us away from God. We must keep an open mind, a faithful heart, and a willing desire to do God's Will. You can always learn something from hardships, as I have done recently and did not view it the way I should have, but nevertheless, I will try as hard as I can to keep my mind focused and willing to learn from the problems I face.

Hardships are a way of keeping us humble because they cause us to take a step back, realize the problem is beyond us and ask God for help. We get stuck on doing everything our way, the "best" way we know how. God knows best, not us.
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I didn't get a chance to proof read or fine-tune this, and I must get to sleep now as I'm passing out while I type this up. It's 2:55am now and I hope I can wake up in the morning for work. :)

Take care everyone.