From Christine Wasinger....
As you have surely noticed, it has been a ridiculously long time since I managed to sit down to write a brief update. In fact, I am pretty sure that I have not been able to do so since I left the night watch a few months ago.  The primary reason for this is that my life quickly became far more than I could really handle. I'm somewhat amazed at the fact that I am still
even remotely functional right now. And that I still love life and still love people and still love Jesus.  

I have blogged somewhat irregularly in the last few months. To include links to those posts would simply be too much right now. Hopefully, once I manage to get more regular again with the updates, I will be able to send some links to some of the more significant things that I wrote about. (I have also been trying to find a few minutes here and there to work on my newsletter snail-mail update.)

For now, here is an extremely quick update.  I DID leave the night watch back in July/August. I joined the 6am section. Because I was so amazingly overcommitted, I quickly became quite flakey and remarkably inconsistent. I slept through a lot of sets. A lot of sets where I was expected to be there and serving with my new worship team.  Within two months, I realized that it wasn't going to work. So, I am back on partial nights. The class that I am teaching in the morning makes it impossible for me to completely switch back, but I am staying until about 2 or 3 every night. And the switch has been REALLY good. I needed to go back. The Lord really has put me in the night watch for a reason. So, I am back on Clay's team (at least in part).

The bookstore has been wonderful. It has been incredibly challenging and has really stretched me in a lot of ways, but it is such a perfect job for me. I love being able to serve the IHOP missions base in that way. It has been really good.  

Teaching has also been going fairly well. I cannot begin to express how much I love my students. They're an incredible bunch.  AND... I am even beginning to grow in confidence as a teacher. I am realizing that the Lord HAS equipped me for this job. I really am doing ok (even as a first-year teacher)... and I do have the potential to be doing an excellent job.  However, I do not have the TIME to be doing an excellent
job.  The fact of the matter is, I am committed to enough things to keep TWO people really busy every week. Were my time doubled, I would still be stretched fairly thin. I just said yes to too many things. It's what I have been calling my two-month "yes binge". It is pretty much impossible to teach, be full time in the prayer room, and be full time at the bookstore. As a result of that, every area of commitment has suffered. 

Two new words that seem to be working their way into most every area of my life: flakey and inconsistent. My health and general emotional, physical, and mental stability have also suffered. I have not been able to really honor my  commitments, because I made too many of them. This has always been a general weakness of mind (overcommiting), but I have never managed to do it quite so enormously. Way to go, Christine.  I cut down on the prayer room as much as I could. Now I am there pretty much the bare minimum of what I need to do to be full-time (50 hours a week) staff in the house of prayer. I also cut down in the bookstore as much as I could. Kristen (my boss) has been incredibly gracious and flexible with me. AND... I am doing about as little as we can possibly get by on for my geometry class with the Daniel Academy.  When reality finally sunk in (I had made all of the adjustments and it still wasn't working), I decided to do something fairly drastic. I requested to get out of my contract with the daniel academy. And they actually agreed. While encouraging me and thanking me for my contribution to this developing school (they actually think I'm doing a good job), they recognized my desperation and are willing to work with me. 

HOWEVER... we have yet to find a repalcement teacher. Lord, sent them quickly! They have been searching hard. And I have been praying a lot. But still no results. In any case, I said that I would finish out the semester with the students. We have a HORRIBLE text-book, and a transition in the middle of the semester would simply be too hard on them. So... somehow, I am going to get through another two months. The Lord did bring me this far.  So...that's my biggest prayer request. 

Which leads me to that final point in the update: PRAYER REQUESTS:  
1.  new geometry teacher for the Daniel Academy. I need to get out. Desperately.
2. Grace and strength to get through this next two months. Praise the Lord I am still alive and function after the first 2-3 months.
3.  Ephesians 1:17-19. Again and again and again and again.
4.  Right relationships...

Thank you so much. I apologize for my inability to keep up with the updates. (The only reason I am able to do so now is that I am on a much-needed vacation in PA. Actual free time. Woo hoo!) I still think of you all and pray for you often. Please feel free to continue sending prayer requests and to let me know what is happening in your lives. 
Blessings!~Christine