Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Short Story: The Battle of Unemployment

Christ's Church of the Valley (CCV) likes to run short, 250-word stories in each weekend's bulletin to tie in with the sermon or events happening within the church. The approximate bulletin count is 7,200 every weekend.

The Battle of Unemployment
One day he had a job; the next day he didn’t. Ian Long, a longtime CCV member and volunteer, recently experienced the harsh reality of an ever-changing world where nothing is secure and every day can be a battle.

During one of the toughest times of his life, Ian and his family took strategic action to face the opposition at hand. Ian could have easily found a short-term cure to stop the discomfort of living without financial security, but he didn’t. Instead, Ian and his wife Erin set immediate, attainable goals and trusted God for literally everything. “God needed to rebalance my understanding of time, money and priorities,” Ian said after facing four months of unemployment.

A wise warrior will closely study and calculate his opposition’s strengths and tactics. In Ian’s case, he assessed the areas of his life where he wanted to grow and used his time of unemployment to enjoy his family, serve outside his normal capacity, and draw close to Christ.

“God helped me understand where my confidence needed to be rooted. It took several months to find a job for a lot of reasons, but most of all because it was not my success that the search was dependent upon but God’s timing instead. Through this experience, I was able to renew my perspective on the fact that if we listen to God and take heed to his leading, He will place us where we can succeed. It’s predicated on him, but even better it’s dependant on Him. It’s a freeing release to know my success is a God thing. The funny thing is that the world just has trouble translating this,” Ian explained.

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