breakthrough!


Wes, Greg's boss, called him last night at 10pm to tell him that an agreement had been made between the owner of the company and the ex-employee. So the company is back in business in Washington state. What a wild roller coaster ride that was. Greg had come home a broken man. First of all, not knowing whether or not he'd have a job on Monday after having been employed and unemployed off and on for 10 months without income and then having his car broken into and everything being taken, he was inconsolable, a broken man. In our 24+ years of marriage, I have only witnessed him cry half a dozen times. Last night was one of them. He only teared up and didn't bawl or anything, but he is NOT an emotional kind of guy. So, it shook me up a bit

He went to a branch of our bank and had them look up his signature card in order to use a counter check to get some cash to eat, vacuum out all the glass, replace the window and put gas in the tank. This effectively wiped out our account. Then, he was able to find a window at a junk yard in Tacoma. He drove in the cold weather without a window for 30 miles to get it. Then, he drove back to Tacoma to meet a glass guy to install it. That saved us $50 and brought the total cost down to $90. It didn't rain the entire time. Thank you God. Then, he had the 2-1/2 hour drive home, with the gaping hole in the dashboard where the stereo was to remind him of the violation. So, he did a lot of thinking and went back over this life. He started listing all of his jobs or businesses and how they all seemed to fail. He deduced that the only common denominator in all of it was HIM. He was thinking that all of his life he's made poor decisions and done the wrong thing when given a choice because of the outcome. So that by the time he got home, he was so far down in the mire, that it was all I could do but to keep his head above the surface.

When he shared all of his thoughts with me I told him that I didn't see it that it was his doing at all. In fact in almost every case, the circumstances were based on the decisions of others, and mostly others who were in authority over him, that there was absolutely nothing he did to cause it, just as in this situation with the lawsuit and his present employer. I saw it all as a great education for him, that God was showing him example after example of what NOT to do in business and in life; things like, don't cheat, don't lie, don't have an affair, don't base business on revenge, etc. I told him that I believe God was preparing him to be a man of great character and that He had something great in mind for him. I told him that I could feel that his breakthrough was right around the corner and things can only go up from here, that he's been stripped of all his security, except for me, just like Job was. And that just like Job, it wasn't because of anything he did. Plus, I fed him dinner. I think it all helped him to feel better. Then, I left him to be alone in his "cave" with the remote control.

At about 10pm, his phone rang. It was his boss giving him the good news. His entire countenance changed. It was like he had MY hormones for a day what with the dramatic mood changes! But, I could feel it too. It was like some dam had broken, but not just on these circumstances,, on our entire lives. It really felt like "this is the first day of the rest of our lives." That reminds me of a joke, for which I now know the answer. It goes, "if today is the first day of the rest of your life, then what was yesterday?' The answer is "it was the last day of your past life." Like the Bible says, "the old has gone, the new has come!"

As if that weren't enough, we've had some family and friends donate money to us, that covered the cost of replacing the window. My old employer, the billiards newspaper is setting him up with a new cue stick, just an inexpensive break cue, but still, it is something. He can use my old case that's been gathering dust until we can replace his old one. And he found the old stock car stereo that he can have installed back into the Jeep. He had given me some tools once Christmas because I complained that he always had his with him so I couldn't do simple repairs around the house when he was gone. So, he can use those, until we can replace his old one. So, we are climbing back from this and feeling more and more blessed.

Posted: Sat - October 30, 2004 at 05:58 PM           |

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