The next day Blake was having lunch with Andy. They sat on high stools at a counter with other customers in this busy sandwich shop. As they talked and laughed about office antics, Andy suddenly said, “Hey, do you know Jerome Johnson, the comedian?”
Blake said, “No, the name doesn't mean anything to me.”
“He's the local guy that is starting to make it big. He's performing at the First Street Comedy Club tonight, do you want to go?”
“OK...Oh, wait a minute, no I can't. I'm going to this prayer thing tonight.” said Blake.
Andy was surprised, “A prayer thing?...You?...In the middle of the week?...When we could go have fun?...Come on. What's up with that?”
“I got asked by this gal I know, and I told her I would go.”
Andy pushed his glasses up on his nose and said, “Ohhh. I should have known there was a girl involved. Now it makes more sense.”
“Andy, its not like that. She's a friend and she's got trouble with family members involved with drugs and problems coming from that. She wanted to get people together to pray for the family.”
“She must be pretty desperate is she is resorting to having people pray about the problem.”
“Actually,” said Blake, “she knows that there is a tremendous amount of power in prayer. We have been praying together about this issue for weeks, but she decided it was time to gather a group together to pray about it. I'm not exactly sure what to expect, but I'm kinda looking forward to it.”
Their lunch finished, Blake and Andy threw away their trash and began the walk back to the office. The day was comfortable, but looked like it might rain.
“So you are getting pretty serious about your Christianity these days.” said Andy.
“Well, yes, I guess so. I've come to realize that all the time I spent having a little touch of Christianity I was just fooling myself. Christianity is so much more than just going to church once in a while or having a bumper sticker on your car. You know that losing Elaine was one of the most awful things that could have ever happened to me, it still hurts incredibly, but the Lord has been with me. I always knew that Jesus was a huge part of Elaine's life. I couldn't ever see Him the same way she did. Since her death, I have been able to accept Him for who He is, instead of who I wanted Him to be. In a sense, it has been like opening the window blinds in a dark room to let the sunlight flood in. I have been totally astonished by what seems like a completely new area of my life.”
Andy was quiet for a moment, then said, “I knew that you seemed a little different, but I put it down to Elaine and all.”
“I'm sure that the loss of Elaine has changed me, I don't know how it couldn't, but I think more of me has changed by learning what her life was really about. I feel like I understand her better now than I did when she was living. While I really wish she was here to share this with, I might never have gotten off of my self-satisfied, self-reliant rump to really submit to her Jesus while she lived. I was so sure that life was as good as it could get. I was so very wrong.”
They were both quietly tending their own thoughts, then Andy asked, “What did you mean by accepting Him for who He is, instead of who you wanted him to be?”
“Well...let's see...OK, let's say that I based our friendship on you being my physical trainer.”
Andy was aghast at the idea, “That would never work. I'm about as unphysical as they come. That would ruin my 'overweight geek' reputation.”
Blake responded, “Exactly! It doesn't work to base a relationship on a false assumption. For virtually all of my adult life, I have wanted a God that is there for me when I want Him, but didn't bother me the rest of the time. I wanted a God that was not involved in my life, except when I wanted Him. I wanted Him to provide me with advice and help with my plans, upon request. This is really a big problem because that isn't who He is any more than you are a physical trainer. If you try to build a relationship based on a false view of who the other person is, then you don't really have a relationship at all. God, as the almighty king of the universe, is not there for my pleasure. He isn't my servant, I need to be His.”
“It is truly amazing,” Blake continued, “to have Him as your God. What I have learned, is that I must let Him be God over my life. The only way this Christianity will work, is to let Him be in charge, otherwise we are trying to force Him into a mold that just isn't Him.”
Andy thought for a moment and said, “Well that might work for you, but I don't think I could ever have that kind of relationship with God.”
Blake asked, “Why not?”
Andy looked uncomfortable as he chose his words. “There are some things in my past...and even in my life now that...aren't...well, they aren't good...He wouldn't be impressed.”
“Andy, God already knows everything you do and every thought that is in your head and you know what? He loves you anyway. He loves you more than you can possibly imagine. Unlike what many people might tell you, the God of the Bible isn't all about rule-keeping. The most important thing to Him is not whether you toe the mark, it is the relationship you have with Him. The whole reason Jesus died on the cross was to die for our sins – He took our punishment – that leaves those of us that have a relationship with Him, without any sin. When we have a love-relationship with the Lord, it is as if we are perfect in God's eyes, even though none of us are. When we deserve to burn in hell, God gives us Heaven and blessings; that is what grace is all about.”
Andy replied, “Wow. You have gotten into this Christianity stuff. This whole God loves you and grace business has always seemed kinda confusing, but what you said about it makes some sense.” At this point they arrived back at the office. As Andy went off in the direction of his desk, he said, “Thanks for explaining that to me.”
When Blake got back to his office, he began to pull out some paperwork associated with a project he planned to undertake next. His computer emitted a “bing” sound indicating that he has received an instant message. He woke up the screen to see what the IM was about. It was from Andy. The message said, “Oh crap! Did you see the email?” With a feeling of dread, Blake looked in his inbox for the message that might have generated Andy's comment. There was one labeled, “Announcement” and it was from the regional manager. Blake opened it and began reading.
From the email, Blake learned that the manager of his office, Jim, has been transferred. Jim would be opening a new office in Georgia. This explained why Jim had been off at corporate this week. He read on and learned that the new manager for Blake's office would be Oliver Thomas.
This was really bad. Although Blake had never met Oliver Thomas, he had a reputation throughout the corporation. Behind his back, he was called Ogre Thomas. Everywhere he went, there was flood of complaining, stress and typically an exodus of employees. Blake had always wondered why the company kept him. Now he was coming here! Blake sat back in his chair shaking his head, thinking, “This is terrible!”
He prayed, “Oh Lord! This is the most awful thing! You know I have enjoyed working for the company. I don't want to have to leave, but I don't want to have to go through everything that I have heard about the Ogre. Please help me Lord. Please give me any other manager! What happened Lord? I thought you were going to protect me. Please my God, do what you can to fix this situation.”
He pulled out his cell phone and called Mark. “Hey, Mark, do you have a minute.”
Hearing the concern in Blake's voice, Mark replied, “Yeah sure. I have a meeting starting in about 10 minutes, but I'm OK to talk right now. What's up?”
Blake said, “You know I've been trying to follow the Lord and I thought I was doing OK, but now I hear that my manager, who is a really good guy, is being transferred out and replaced by the most awful manager in the whole corporation. He has such a reputation that, even though I've never met him, I know that he makes things miserable for the people that attempt to work under him.”
“That doesn't sound good.” responded M
ark.
“I don't know why the Lord has done this to me. I was trying so hard.”
“Blake, the Lord hasn't done this to you. The Lord has a master plan and it is good. I don't know what direction He's going to want to take you in, but you have to trust Him. There are times that trusting Him is really hard. For you to wind up where He wants you to be, you have to listen to His voice and just trust that He knows what He is doing. All through the Bible, in many different ways, He says to His people 'Do not be afraid, just trust Me. Even when you can't see it, I have everything under control.' You need to just trust in the fact that God has your back, then listen to what he want you to do about the situation.”
“Maybe I can trust him. I bet a lot of my co-workers are going to be updating their résumés this afternoon.”
Mark replied, “Just stay calm and pray this through before you do anything drastic. God's plan is better than anything you can think up, so follow His leading.”
Blake said, “That makes me feel better already. Mark, I do appreciate you. Thanks for your help and support.”
“No problem. I'll be praying for you and I'll let Beth know so she can pray for you too. God will take care of you.”
Blake ignored the accumulated email and IM on his computer, heading off to find a couple of uninterrupted minutes with the Lord in the men's room. While the Lord didn't tell him what to do, Blake did find himself feeling better.
Returning to his desk, he found many messages of gloom, doom and panic from his co-workers. The rumor-mill was churning out so much negativity that Blake felt his trust in the Lord slipping. Blake got a sticky note and wrote on it with a marker “TITL” and stuck it to the bottom of his computer monitor to remind himself to trust in the Lord. Each time he noticed it, he shot out a quick, silent prayer of “I am trusting You because you will take care of me.” He tried hard to stay out of the negative discussions.
Blake knew that the ogre...no Oliver (he was trying to remain positive) was due to start on Monday. Knowing that a miracle-working God was going to take care of him, he figured that God was going to drop a job opportunity into his lap any time now.
CHAPTER 15
“How great are His miracles, and how mighty His wonders...”
Daniel 4:3
Burst Into Flames: A Parable Page 18