Stepping Out In The Great Unknown



Last Monday we had a called full staff meeting. Once everyone was assembled,  our office's project manager called our company's headquarters and one of the corporate VPs came on the line to announce our office would be closing permanently at the end of August. Many in the room were shocked. I was not one of them. I have learned over the years to pay close attention to the small details and to read the signs.

In the last 14 years, I have survived two small businesses where I was employed collapsing. Unfortunately, they were consecutive jobs. Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire. But both of those experiences taught me a great deal including the tell-tale signs to notice. Both of these situations also taught me lessons in faith much like the lessons learned through surviving divorce. 

After the second small business collapse and subsequent layoffs, it took awhile to find another job. The concerns regarding paying the mortgage, child support, and all of the other bills felt like a huge mill stone hanging around my neck. But a gracious God provided for us while I sought a new job. I took side jobs from three consulting firms during my unemployment, and it was always enough at the last moment. And after the financial losses from walking through divorce, the prospect of starting over from scratch did not seem as intimidating as it had in the past.

While this is not a small business collapse, my past experience allowed me to recognize this office closing several months ago. And though I do not have a new job lined up, I have used the time leading up to Monday's announcement to prepare and had begun the job search process. Now is the tough but familiar part - the waiting and the sense of the unknown. 

The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you see one more card
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part
- Tom Petty

As I think about the weeks and months that lie ahead of us,  I can picture that scene from Indiana Jones. He is standing at the very edge looking down into an abyss. He draws a deep breath,  looks straight ahead, and takes a huge step out into nothing. And to his surprise, he finds himself fully supported. It is a familiar feeling. I have been here before, and although I would rather not be here again, I know the one the cares for me holds me in the palm of his hand.

So I wait...

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?" 
Matthew 6:25-27

-Peace

Allen

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