The challenge of walking with the God who knows me
Names changed throughout except in some cases where the person involved has been or is in ministry.
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If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. 2 Cor 5:17
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Hebrews 11:1
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
It was quite a bombshell. “Would you like to join the staff of our mission?” was the question. It had always been our intention to get involved in missions, so we shouldn’t have been so shocked. I think that if we had made the decision ourselves and taken the initiative it would have been easier. Having the question popped out of the blue took us aback.
Now we had to think about it. The decision had a number of implications, but the obvious one that had to be taken most seriously was to do with work and living.
I was really enjoying my work as an Engineer. It was challenging and technical. I had come to a position as the systems engineer of a telecommunications project, and had a good knowledge of the system. People depended on me to know the consequences if changes were made, or to understand why things were done the way they were done. I felt to some degree that I would be leaving them in the lurch if I left.
My company, indeed was quite taken aback. My boss said that he was just about to give the best job appraisal he had ever been able to give, and that he was going to offer for me to go almost anywhere in the company that I chose. Later, they offered me the one position in the company that I would have enjoyed more than any – head of advanced engineering for the equipment I was working on. It was all very enticing, but I had to say no. Jesus had made it plain that he wanted us. “ ‘Simon son of John do you love me more than these?’ ‘Yes Lord you know that I love you’. ‘Feed my lambs ...’ ” John 21:15-25 (NIV) From that point there was no longer any decision. It was just a matter of working it out.
The financial side of things was in a way quite simple: The mission – The Navigators, had no money. Each representative had to raise their own support. This seemed a very daunting prospect. It did not seem that we had enough people to write to who could support us. Our response was to go to Jesus and try to find some way ahead from the Word. I felt that I could not leave a “secure” place of work and income without a promise from God that he would take care of us. He gave, amongst others: “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.” Psalm 37:25 (NIV) And with this, I handed in my notice. At that time we had one promise of support for £30 a month. Generally our mission prefers 90% support before doing anything crazy like handing in notice, but God had spoken and the mission accepted that.
We moved to a new city, to a new home, and from the time we left work with the electronics company, we have never been in need. There have been some tough times and this promise of Jesus has been thoroughly tested, but Jesus is the one who provides and we have never lacked anything.
LEAVING WORK
