JOB

Back to the salt mine.

James 4:13-15, "Come now you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.' ... Instead, you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that."

After hundreds of job applications and only a few interviews, finally out of the blue comes a workable job in the mortgage business. In fact, I was on my way to an interview for a global bank when a man called me wanting to interview me. He was calling from a company I had not applied for, and had come across my resume only God knows where. In the conversation he asked me not to take the job I was headed to without interviewing with him.

So I go to the interview with the global bank, and nothing feels right. As I am driving to the interview with the mystery caller God speaks to me the thought, "take this job." Pretty bold thought considering I know nothing about the company, nothing about the work environment, and have interviews still scheduled with other companies. Not to mention the fact that they have not offered me a job to begin with.

And so went to the interview last week, and I was asked to interview with the two partners again the next week. One of the questions they asked was, "Why do you want to work here?" I had no answer other than a gut feeling.

They also asked, "What are your objectives in working here?" To that I said if you are looking for someone to climb corporate ladders and chase money I am not your man. I am just looking to do my 40 plus hours a week and earn enough money to eat. After all if you don't work then you can't eat.

You have no idea how far a departure these answers are from my former self. A self hell-bent on rebuilding a lost empire. A disappearance of identity grounded in position, accomplishment, power, and prestige. A lack of need to be the smartest guy in the room, to use an Enron phrase. I didn't say this to them, but I will say it here... I just want to practice the presence of God. And if God says, "take the job" then it must be because that is where He wants to meet with me. Again... not a place He wants me to be. Not a job He wants me to pursue. Not an identity He wants to establish. But It is where He wants me to be with Him.

What a difference, and what a peace comes with the decision. I further wish that it was that simple. But it's not, nor ever is. From every direction job offers are coming. (Where have they been the past five months?) Three other companies are begging me not to take a job until I have talked to them. One is salaried management in the mortgage arena. Another is a salaried position helping a company develop an internet presence and marketing strategy. A third is a hamburger joint, my favorite hamburger joint, where the owner spent nearly an hour today trying to convince me I should take it over. And take it over for nearly nothing, so that him and his family can move back to California.

Self, ego, everything about me that is not God is saying do it all. Do mortgages, consult, and own a burger joint. But we shall have to see what happens. I have given it all over to God, and I will go nowhere without Him. So where He leads I will follow. And when He leaves that place, Lord help me to follow then too. After all, it's easy to move from pain to comfort, but from comfort to pain is a little more challenging.

I will close by saying that with everything good from God the devil present counterfeits by the dozens. I and you have to stay faithful to being obedient to where God tells us to go, and pray that God reveal the counterfeits as they come.