In 1993 I departed the Army on not so good of terms.  Had my life been as easy then as it is now, I may still been enlisted, but that was not to be.  I was a Chaplain Assistant, a job that was developed because the Chaplain is the only person in the military organization that is not required to carry firearms (some choose to, but they are not required).  Now that I look back, I certainly could have chosen a job more fitting to where I am now, and having departed the Army with such experiences would be that much more ahead of the game.  However, now that I do have the technical skills that I have acquired, I feel the urge to return to serving God within the community, sharing my knowledge and helping those possibly earn a better living by keeping their skills sharpened.

I have recently come to feel these urgings, because after working for about 2 years as a database administrator and programmer, I was out of work for over 6 months.  I was looking for work during that time, though admittedly not as hard as I should have, and I did have a couple of positions that were temp-to-hire, but I didn't see how these positions would work out, when in both instances the position I was filling did not appear to require any work - and I certainly couldn't claim experience for sitting around all day, so I knew it was not the place for me.  Eventually, God did position me in the job that He had set aside from me.  Not only did it pay significantly more than both the temp jobs and the one I held for 2 years, it also has the exact duties that I was wanting, which is being the Manager of Information Technology.  Granted there are only about 12 computers, but that is just enough for 1 person to handle.

While at the job that I kept  for 2 years,  I met a Christian brother there that invited me to join him at his Bible study, and since I had not attended a church regularly for about 2 years, I accepted.  He brought me to a group that I instantly took a liking to, and felt that God had definitely brought me to.  Now, after 2 years there, I feel like a part of the family, many people there know who I am and I am comfortable talking with many of them (not a common thing with some technical people).

Also, while working at my previous job, I met another Christian brother that the 3 of us would frequently go to lunch, and this particular gentleman was utilizing a database that I was pretty much overseeing the upkeep of.  Since he dealt with the data side of it, and had to call upon me frequently to help him make things easier, we agreed that it would be much better for the both of us if he knew how to do these tasks himself, so I showed him what I could about databases and programming.  Upon my departure of this particular company, they saw fit that he should pick up those duties of mine that would have otherwise gone unattended, and despite my involuntary departure, I am thankful for their decision because it helped my Christian brother with a raise, and a chance to get the experience he may not have otherwise gotten.  This just goes to prove that although we may not always see it God has a blessing whenever hard times come around, and it will not necessarily be a blessing to you in order make up for the hard time, your blessings may come later, as mine did with my current job.

I can definitely without a doubt attest to my current job being from God, because I did not submit my resume to this company specifically, but instead they found my resume on the internet, and contacted me.  They performed a normal interview process, including other candidates, but God saw it fit that mine was the one they chose.