Smackdown

Hello everyone,

Out of boredom and a need to ramble on about what is on my mind I decided to start this blog. In the coming days you will probably find everthing from movie reviews to rants about the Buffalo Bills. I will start off by telling you guys a little about the past 10 months of my life.

In January I was 29 years old I had a decent job that I had worked for 13 years (actually it was 12 years and 11 months). I have 2 nephews and a niece. My parents have been happily married for 35 years. I have an awesome brother and the most wonderful sister you could ever ask for, heck I even like my brother and sister-in-law. I have had to work my whole life but I have never wanted for anything and I have always paid my bills. I am deacon/Sunday school teacher/youth worker in my church. To say I was blessed was an understatement. Then it happened on Feb 14th ….the smackdown.






On that day I lost my job. Maybe that does not seem that catastrophic to you, but it was to me. Work is what I do. I remember thinking with my work ethic and background I would find a job swiftly. I was wrong. I have spent 5 of the 9 months this year unemployed. The first 3 months were not that bad. I lived off my savings and the help of friends and family. But the fact that I did not have a steady income was eating away at me. I remember being on my knees at night asking God 2 simple questions: “Why?” and “Where are You” after my savings ran out I found a job and assumed God had answered my prayer the way I thought He would. That job did not last long. I will save the details of why for another rambling session. The next 2 months were very difficult. I had to rely on the kindness of friends and family just to get by. Being a prideful man, this devastaed me. I felt like less of a man. About 6 weeks after losing the second job I could not take it anymore. I decided I would fast and pray until God answered those prayers. I needed to know one thing…WHY?. It did not take long to for Him to answer. During that time I looked in His word at all the people who had experienced loss. Everyone from Job to Paul. Why did Job lose everything? To be honest I don’t know why he had to learn the way he did. I am thankful I did not have to lose as much as he did to learn the same lesson. What was that lesson? The lesson was even after going through those months of unemployment to say I am blessed is still an understatement. See after reading about those people I found I was asking the wrong questions. “Why?” and “Where are You?”. That weekend the question changed my new question is “Is God sufficient for everything?”. I can tell you without a doubt the answer is a resounding YES! John Piper put it best when he said “God is most glorified in me when I am most satisfied in Him”. God was always there. I was just looking for Him to be glorified by Him coming in and giving me a great job and getting back on my feet swiftly. But would that truly bring glory to Him? I think in the long run…no, it would have made me look good but not Him. He did provide me a job the following week. A very good job and I am thankful. I know it will be a while before I am financially secure again and it won’t be easy getting there. But I have learned two valuable lessons: 1. I am no self sufficient. I cannot make it through life without the help of Him and those around me. 2. God is enough. No matter how many times I get smacked down. No matter what life throws at me He is enough. Strip every earthly possession away I don’t need them because He is all I will ever need. Romans 8: 36-39.

So what about you? Are you ready for the smackdown? “How ya gonna react when you're put on your back?” It is coming. I do not know what it will be. It could be the loss of a job, a broken relationship or worst of all the loss of a loved one. Get ready for it and when it comes know that He is enough. I leave you with some words from John Piper.


God Bless.