From corporate jets to food stamps.

I thought I had the perfect job. I mean it was a job where you picked up the phone and ordered the corporate jets. One of four to take you any place you needed to go. It was country club golf on the weekends and company cars for my family, my wife and I. Then one day reality hit. Our company had been taken over. I got called into my new boss’s office without warning or performance issues or anything else. I was let go. Thursday morning we got up not knowing what to do. Not knowing whether to go back home or whether to stay. We knew we needed another job quickly. So we decided to find someplace quiet where we could go and chat. We normally walked along the beach and that was our place where we talked but it was raining pretty hard that day. We decided to try and find someplace else. My wife suggested the church that she had gone to the Sunday before. It was a large building and it probably had some place we could go sit and not be disturbed. We got into the car and drove over. The place was so big and there were only a few doors open and we ended up in the church library. The librarian kind of took one look at us and knew that something must be up. We said; “Look, do you have a place we can just go and talk?” She said; “No.” They had a school there as well and the kids were in session. The chapel was being used. All of the rooms were classrooms. She said: “But there will be a pastor upstairs who will be able to see you if you would like.” I said; “I don’t want a pastor. I don’t need a pastor. I just need someplace where I can talk with my wife.” She never let it go. Every time I said; “I don’t need to speak with anybody,” she referred us upstairs. I finally relented and said; “Great. Whatever.” She pointed us down the hallway and said to take the elevator up to the second floor and there will be somebody there that will meet you. So this long lanky guy came down the hallway extended his hand and said; “Come on there’s a room here we can chat in. What are you here for?” I said; “No, you misunderstand. Thanks for coming down we are not really interested in chatting but we just wanted someplace to talk.” He said; “Well tell me what’s going on.” This was my first experience with someone in the ministry that actually seemed like he cared. So for an hour I just vented. I let it rip. I said it was unjustified, I didn’t do anything to deserve it and on and on. He said; “You know, you may not understand this but I don’t believe in coincidence.” I said; “Okay. What does that mean?” He said; “Well, this morning for the very first time there’s a group of unemployed men and women that are meeting here to talk about supporting each other, resources and jobs. Let me introduce you to the guy that’s leading that, facilitating it.” So we kind of looked at each other. In walked this guy by the name of Roland Barrington. We started eating and Roland just said two of the most important questions I think I have ever heard. One was: If I died today did I know that I would go to Heaven? The other was: If I did die and God would ask me why I should let you into Heaven what would I say? I told him no, I was not certain that I would go to Heaven. I don’t know how anybody could be certain of that. Then I told him; “Why would he let me in? Well, I haven’t killed anybody. I haven’t stolen anything. I was a good guy.” He smiled again and kind of said; “Look, would you like to know that you could know for sure?” I said; “Sure.” And um….for the next twenty minutes, he shared truth that I hadn’t heard in any church I had ever been in. When I heard about God’s love for me and the reality of Christ it all clicked. I was just listening and my wife was across the way and we hadn’t had eye contact and we hadn’t spoken to each other. He said; “Is there any reason why you couldn’t or wouldn’t accept Christ into your life right now and allow God to love you in the way that He had intended from the very beginning. Without looking up, both of us, at the same time, both of us said; “Yes, we’d like to do that.” We were startled and I looked at Jean and she looked at me. It was the most natural thing in the world. We said yes and he prayed and our lives were not the same after that. I don’t mean it was all a bed of roses and things were great immediately. The wheels fell off the wagon right after that. It got worse. A couple of days later the sheriff knocked on our front door. We lost our house and moved into an apartment complex where the police department was there every night and there were gun shots and squirrels literally in the cupboards. I was working two, sometimes three jobs to try and provide but it just never seemed like it was enough. I went from flying around the United States in corporate jets to sitting in line at free clinics so my kids could get their shots to go to school and food stamps once a month. It was before all of the electronic debit cards and everything. We would go stand in line once a month based on your last name for hours and hours. That’s how we survived and one day while standing in line, (I have never heard God speak audibly to me. I have never heard a booming voice.) it was very clear that it was Him. He said; “Do you trust me?” I said; “Yeah, sure I do. I have trusted you with eternity. I do.” He said; “Do you really trust me?” I said; “I think so.” He said; “Go home. This is the world’s way of providing. My way is better. Go home.” Boy did I swallow hard, because without those food stamps there was not a lot of food to eat that month. So I went home. My wife said; “Your home early.” I said; “Yeah, I’ve got a story to tell you.” I shared it with her and we got down on our knees and just prayed that I hadn’t misheard. We prayed that God would come through. He provided for our needs that month and the next and the next. Then I got another telephone call from a competitor to the other organization that I had worked with. Who said; “Would you like a job?” And um, I said; “Yes!” It’s a remarkable thing. I’m still struggling with some of that. The guy that was there before but it’s a whole different deal now. It’s still not all been a bed of roses but it’s been great. I wouldn’t trade it for all the jets and the golf clubs and the cars in the world.