Page 91 - Evidence of Things Unseen

A Sudden Opening

need not have worried where we would go after we left Jekyll Island, for while we were
Ithere our friends Randy and Barbara Barnes e-mailed us and said they would like us to
come and park our motorhome at their house. It was a great relief to me to know we had
somewhere to go next. I was down to my last few dollars, and although we had plenty of gas
in the motorhome to drive back to Middle Georgia, I did not know where I would get the
money to buy groceries when my funds ran out.
We parked our motorhome at the Barnes’ house, and I continued asking the Father
what He would have me do next. After we had been there a few days the Lord spoke to me
around noon one day and said, “Go right now, take a copy of your resume with you, and
apply for a teaching job at Middle Georgia Technical College.” This idea was not completely
new to me, for some friends had mentioned a few months earlier that I might find a job
teaching at this school. I did not pursue it at the time, for God had not yet released me to
return to work. This day, however, I knew God was telling me to leave at once and apply for
a job.
I grabbed a copy of my resume and told my wife I would be back in a while. I did not
tell her where I was going, or what I intended to do, for I preferred to know something
definite before I shared anything with her about this matter. I went into the business office
of the college and spoke to a secretary about wanting to apply for a teaching position in the
computer department. The secretary took my resume and said they would get back with me
in a couple weeks. I did not feel I was to leave things this way, so I asked if there was anyone
in the computer department whom I could speak to about job openings. The secretary told
me the name of the man who was responsible for hiring in that department, but she said he
would probably not be in his office, for he also taught classes. However, she agreed to
telephone his office.
This man answered right away, and when she told him that she had someone wanting
to apply for a job teaching computer maintenance and management he told her to send me
up right away. I arrived at his office and he looked over my resume briefly. He said that a
new school quarter was starting in a few weeks and he needed an instructor to teach the
very thing I was interested in. The previous instructor had just been fired for viewing
pornography on school computers. He had no one to fill the position, and my showing up
was very providential.
This man offered me the job, and he told me that all new instructors started out being
paid fourteen dollars an hour. I had already been thinking about what salary I would
request, and I asked the Lord, if He really wanted me to work there, that they would agree
to pay me sixteen dollars an hour. I was still feeling very hesitant about returning to work,
and I wanted to be sure it was the Lord’s will. I asked this man if he could pay me sixteen
dollars and hour, and he responded that it was very unusual and he would have to get the
college president to okay this starting salary. He thought it would be approved, however.
There ended up being no problem with this request and I started my new job at sixteen
dollars an hour. I had picked this number because the Lord had been using it so
prominently to testify that my wife and I were in a time of new beginnings. It just seemed
right that the Lord should do this thing if He wanted me there.
As I left the college having been offered this job, part of me was very elated, for I really
felt like I needed a time of recuperation and rest from all of the pressure I had been under.