The Unlikely Route to Joy

My story

 

"It was not fair at all", I said to myself. One of my student's in our youth ministry called me to let me know that he had been offered a job with the same company I worked for. God had provided me with a great job during my last 3 years of Bible College with a large national janitorial company. My assignment was to clean several local banks in the evenings and early mornings. It was a great job for a student as I could come and go anytime after the banks were closed. It was not necessarily a fun job, cleaning ash trays, toilets and other mountains of trash left behind from careless tellers. But it was a source of a good wage and met our need as a newly married couple.

My immediate supervisor was an ex-military man who, for some reason, thought the best way to motivate me was to yell and holler, leave me nasty notes, and treat me like the trash I picked up. My relationship with the supervisor and the company was tempestuous and filled with conflict. I always felt like I was just a moment away from being fired.

The next day after our friend Norm got a call to hire him, I received my "pink" slip, and actually I think it was red. It was an incredibly difficult time. How was I, as a young married husband, going to be able to go home and share this news with my bride? I felt like a total failure, worthless and empty of any vestige of self-esteem. It humbled me to a place I had never been before. I did my best to fight my firing. I contacted several of the managers of the banks I worked in and got them to write wonderful letters about my quality of work. It was to no avail. I was officially unemployed for the first time in my young life.

I remember distinctly complaining to God about how unfair this was. "Dear God, what have I done to deserve this?" "I have been such a hard working Christian, why did YOU not protect me." God did not seem to care at that point. I had to just keep focused, looking for work anywhere I could find it. Within a few months, I was asked to fill in, on a temporary basis, at a vacancy on staff at Bethany Bible College. I became the Director of Financial Aid and soon accepted a permanent assignment to the college staff. That was the beginning of a wonderful 15+ year ministry at Bethany. In looking back, it now is apparent, that God had to get me fired to prepare me for the work he wanted me to do. The temporary job at Bethany was less than I was making as a janitor. I would never have taken a temporary job if I had not needed something!

I learned a great lesson about real faith and confidence in God at that difficult time of my life. It is easy to say we believe when we don't have to believe. It is another story when we are required to have faith when we do not understand or see the end from the beginning. James says it this way, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds". Here are some questions to ask yourself.

1. What is the very first thing I think when facing a crisis, troubling time, and difficulty?
   
2. Who gets the blame?
   
3. Is this perhaps an end to a means for God's plan for my life?
   
4. Am I committed enough to the process to submit to the pressure and direction of the Potters Hand?