I believe in God. Whoa...wait. Where are you going? Hang on a second and hear me out. It's not a casual belief, but I'm not into proselytizing either. Relax. So, do me a favour, if somehow my belief in God makes you uncomfortable or defensive, then I want you to substitute the word God in the rest of this post with the word 'Life'.
I believe in life.
See? not so hard.
So, why do I bring this up? I'm 41. I still have a long way to go, but I can also look back a fair ways and see how God has guided me through things. And it's kind of amazing really. When I look back and see how one insignificant decision or event led to another insignificant event, which then snowballed into a greater life story. And I firmly believe everyone has these threads in their lives that join events into bigger things. This is how I see God moving in my world.
In the spring of 1999, I was one of those dastardly call centre people who called you at dinner. Actually, I wasn't. I didn't work the residential side of things, but I did sell (ironically) Sprint Canada phone service to Small Office/Home Office clients over the phone. I hated the job, but I was good at it. I got a promotion to team lead fairly quickly, and I was doing well. Until, the revenue sharing cheque didn't show up. Seems I had missed the employment cut off date by two weeks. Didn't really seem fair, and they weren't going to budge. Anyways, I was kinda, sorta looking. We had one baby at the time, and another on the way. One night, Wifey asked me to stop and pick up milk. That phone call changed our lives.
I stopped at a Petro Canada gas station to get the milk. I never bought milk at Petro Can, or any gas station back in the day. It was too expensive. But, they were the only ones open at 10pm. Anyways, the cashier was cleaning up for the night, and actually offered to give me one of the Toronto Star newspapers she was going to throw out. What a treat! I never had the time to read the Star anymore, so I thanked her and snapped one up. Later, at home, I read the whole paper and finally got on to the classifieds. I always leave those for last. There was an ad for a new company called Bell World. Retail mall communications selling. Cell phones, satellite TV, Home phones, and all that stuff. I applied, got the job, and started an 11 year career with Bell in various capacities.
That newspaper ad led to a stable income, growth opportunities, a family move to Calgary, a reunion trip of sorts to Mexico with a bunch of old friends, greater growth and responsibility, greater income and all the things that came with that. It also led to my current role with a TELUS dealer. I can pinpoint exact spots along the way where, for no particular reason, I was in the right place at the right time with my eyes open, mouth shut, and ears listening. I could give long, detailed examples of specific moments along the way that led to greater things for me and us, but you'd fall asleep. Those moments helped stretch that thread even further. Such chance occurances and meetings and, well, it's kind of crazy how it all fits into place. Point is, you have those moments too. And you should be thankful for them.
This is how God moves in my life. And sometimes, the way I was moved was more of a painful push off a cliff. Losing my job at Bell after 11 years was no picnic. But, I can see how maybe it needed to be that way. I'm a different person than I was a year ago. We're a different family. And for the good, I would say.
So yeah, I believe in God. We have been so blessed to always have exactly what we needed, when we needed it. Never too much or too little. Money was tight? Oops...here's a bank error in your favour (Just an example. THAT never happens.) just to get you through. Feeling stuck where you are? Here's a jerk for a boss that's going to make you so miserable you have no choice to find something else to do. Car got stolen? Haha...true story; here's another exact same model of car in far, far better condition, selling for exactly the amount as the insurance payout, up for sale on the same day the cheque shows up and you have to turn in the insurance company's rental car. You can't make that shit up.
The challenge is this; are you willing to listen to what's happening around you? Yes, there are times when I allowed FUD to mess up what could have been an easy opportunity. And that's my baggage. But, God will still throw those fat, juicy softballs right over the plate for you. If you are aware of what's going on around you, those softballs will turn into homeruns. And that's what it is really. An awareness of your surroundings. Not every decision will work. And there's no way you're ever going to be able to predict the outcome of a situation, especially when it's a soul ripping, chest pounding, heart wrenching feeling of defeat at first. Give it time. Act on your gut. Dip your toe in the water. And look back once in a while.
There's a thread that's turning into a beautiful tapestry if you look far enough back.
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