Interactions with God #89

By September of 2001, I had not found a job yet. The job market was terrible and the events of 9/11 made things much worse.  It was then that we put our house on the market.

In October, unemployment insurance kicked in. It wasn’t much, but added to a severance that I got from Sun Microsystems, it would help us survive a bit longer. Survive, yes, if the house sold quickly enough. It didn’t.

For the church plant, we were still meeting at a local Charter school each Sunday. My team now consisted of John, his wife Jessica and another couple, Dan and Terry. We rarely got visitors. Yet we tried to remain hopeful that God would start to open doors… soon.

The Phoenix home prices had already started to climb, drastically. This was rather confusing as, by March of 2002, we still had no offers on our house.  The price was not too high and there was nothing wrong with the house.  It should have sold almost as soon as we put it on the market, but it didn’t. I knew God was holding it all back. I kept telling everyone that I believed it was because God would rescue us at the last minute and that we would get to keep the house.  Of course, that wasn’t His plan. 

Being unemployed is brutal. Everyone knows that men tend to find their identity in what they do.  Here I was, unable to find a job, and also unable to make our church grow. I was doing everything I could do to make both efforts work.  Discouragement and the feeling of failure became overwhelming.  Even worse, was how many of my Christian brothers and sisters offered “advice” and a questioning look. If I had some awful disease, no one would consider saying “Gee, have you been eating your green beans?” If they did, anyone who heard them would beat them with a stick. So, why then, do so many say things like, “Gee, have you tried Walmart?” I really got tired of trying to explain to everyone why Walmart would not hire me.

Walmart, Home Depot and a thousand companies in between, once you reach mid-career level, these jobs are no longer accessible. For one, the hiring manager you interview with makes less than you did in your last job. This is threatening to them (Yes, this is true, a Target manager even told me so…in an interview!). You are also a flight risk. In a bad economy, would you hire a Financial Analyst to stock shelves for $6.00 an hour? As soon as the market improves, they are going to leave for a better job. No Duh! Yet, even as I explained this over and over again to seemingly deaf ears. My “brothers” and “sisters” would then reply, “So, my cousin works for Chuck e Cheese, maybe he can help?”  AAAARGH!

By May of 2002, we still had no offers, for a job or the house. The stress was becoming unbearable.  Our realtor was really baffled that our house would not sell. She even came to us and apologized for it. She offered to release us from our contract because she began to somehow feel responsible. EVERY house in Phoenix was selling…just not ours. I told her, no, we would like to keep her on. “It is not your fault the house won’t sell. It is God’s doing and we know it.” Yea, she thought we were nuts too. We get that a lot. 

I had written a check for the last mortgage payment that we could afford. Two scary weeks later, we got an offer on the house. It was lower than it should have been compared to the comps in the area, but the proceeds would give us enough to survive for a while. The sale closed just a week after the next mortgage payment was due... God’s razor edge timing. I am telling you, He really does not like my fingernails…

So, why do bad things happen to good people? There have been a score of books on this topic. Look, when we give our lives to God, He can do what He wants with us. Faith, is not believing God for what we want. Faith, is trusting that God does what is best…always. Faith, is not tested by whether or not we “believe” well enough for a Mercedes. It is tested by still standing with God, even when it looks like He has abandoned us. 

Consider Job. For years I have asked people, “Who initiated the situation with Job?” Christians have always responded, “satan”. That is simply not true! GOD initiated the situation with Job! Yes, He did!! He started the whole thing off with, “Have you considered my servant Job?” Do you really think God didn’t know and didn’t have planned ahead of time what would transpire?  If you do think so, you really need to spend more time in the Word. 

Consider Job again. God brought up his name as an example of one that was “unbreakable”. Think about that! God boasted about Job to His great enemy! What an honor! God was not testing Job. He knew Job would pass. And satan didn’t hate Job. Satan was looking to prove God wrong. God was not wrong. He never will be. Job was God’s excellent workmanship.

It is not the nails that God is after. No, it is His honor that He is after. Proving the quality of His work. My nails are irrelevant.