Walk It Like You Talk It (It’s Crunch Time)
Well… the Word of God says that it “rains on the just and the unjust”. The storms of life do happen to everyone. This saint just found out something this week that rocked my physical world. As a commissioned Executive Recruiter, for the past 20 years, I have been blessed to have been successful enough for us to maintain our very comfortable lifestyle and it has afforded us the privilege of giving hospitality to the saints and supporting a good number of worthy and Godly enterprises and missions in our neighborhood and around the world.
This Monday, doing a bit of forensic accounting because of a glaring discrepancy in my “draw balance”, I discovered this earth shaking truth. My trusted partners in NY had changed my commission structure without my understanding or buy-in seven years ago and it had slowly but surely eroded my income. The total was, suffice it to say, a LOT of money (six-figures). It is to my shame and regret that I did not catch this discrepancy sooner, but Donna and I are standing on God’s Word that Joseph spoke to his brothers “you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good.” Genesis 50:20
The last couple of years have been hard for my business. New technologies that help large corporate HR departments recruit employees while frustrating relational recruiters like me, and the current trend toward “in-house” recruiting vs. using contingency recruiters, have begun eroding my long-standing client base. By the time a search goes out to me, it is generally because it has been so picked over that almost every viable candidate in the reasonable geographic perimeter has been contacted. Nevertheless, I have always said that I am at the “cutting edge of God’s Will” as a commissioned recruiter who is also a volunteer pastor, doing the Lord’s work and calling every minute of the day. In this He has always been my “Just In Time” God and delivers the right candidate at the right time, with just enough lag-time to remind me that it is He not me, who provides the increase.
So… the combination of the possibility of losing a huge piece of earned income coupled with the decline in normal business is like two barrels of the same shotgun facing us. Here is why we are not worried…
I am equally yoked with a strong woman of God who stands in the midst of this storm with me in the same faith and trust that I have in our Redeemer Who lives.
Donna and I serve a God who loves us and who has promised us “a future and a hope” Jeremiah 29:11
Although it rains on the just and the unjust, when it rains on the unjust it may wash out their house, but when it rains on the just, it simply waters our crops.
We have great friends, soldiers and saints, who are joining us in fervent prayer for God to be glorified in the outcome of this trial.
Should we be left holding this particular empty bag, (and the dialogue is still going… I believe my partners to be “honorable men” who made an error of judgment affecting us all, so pray with us dear friend that they will yet do what is right in God’s eyes), the Lord’s promise remains that if He has called us to this fire, He will not withdraw His hand and will keep us in the midst of the flames as He did Amaziah, Hananiah and Mishael (more popularly known as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, their detestable Babylonian names).
We are excited to see what the Lord will do with and through this hard set of circumstances. If nothing else, it is a great opportunity for us to walk it out, in the light of the Lord and the Power of God in faith believing, before the Family of God and unbelievers alike, to the victory of the Lord, bringing Him Glory and His servant’s joy. In other words, it gives us the opportunity to model what we have preached for so long, that God is faithful, He is great and greatly to be praised, come what may! We get to walk it like we talk it.
In His Loving Grip,
John Henry Raskin, Roadhouse Rabbi