When I was 18, I moved to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida with a friend for about 6 months, moved back home for a couple of months, and then moved back to Ft. Lauderdale again (my friend, once again, needed a roommate). When my friend first talked to me about moving the conversation went something like this:
"Do we have jobs?"
"Not yet."
"Do we have a place to stay?"
"I'm working on that."
"Do we have any money saved up?"
"I have enough for about a month."
Of course, with that kind of plan in place, I could not refuse the offer. So, we hopped in his car, I loaded up my 2 (maybe 3) boxes of clothes (all I owned) and we drove 8 hours to Ft. Lauderdale.
Now, in all honesty, I did not simply move because he asked me if I wanted to go and he had such an amazing plan. I went with him, in part, because I wanted to know what I really believed in. You see, I had come to faith in Christ at about the age of 9, and I grew up in a Christian home. My father had gone through seminary and my mother grew up as a Christian and was informed about her faith. But, because I grew up with parents who were so firmly convinced of Christianity, I had never really had anyone challenge me on my faith.
I realized that it was possible that I did not really believe, that I only thought I had faith, and that, in all reality, it was only the cultural influence of my parents and growing up in the deep South that had prompted me to think of myself as a Christian. So, in order to determine for myself what I really believed in, I decided that I would move with my friend to Florida, read and study, and seek God. And that is what I did. I sought God, read in the free time I had available, and tried to determine what the real evidence was for Christianity and whether I was a believer.
But, at the same time that I wanted to answer all the questions I had about my own faith, I had to survive. My friend was quite serious, he had enough money to get us through about a month. I had some money also, but I spent the money I had nearly immediately, buying the necessities for life. I bought food and cleaning supplies, cooking utensils and other necessities like that. But, even if you have the food and tools to cook with, if you don't have anywhere to cook it, you'll still go hungry. I needed a job fast, so I could afford to pay my rent.
Because we moved right around September I figured I would go to the local mall and look for a seasonal job. After a couple of days I was able to find a place to work, making $6.25/hr, as a holiday worker. At that time, $6.25 was about $0.50 more than minimum wage, but at the same time I had to pay one third of the living expenses for an apartment that cost something like $1050 a month, not including water, electric, and other amenities. And, shortly after we got there, we found the other guy we were rooming with didn't actually have a job, so my friend and I were covering half the expenses each. In case you are trying to figure things out, at 40 hours a week at $6.25 an hour I was making about $1000 a month, before taxes, around $800 or less after, of which over $500 was going just to rent. We still had to pay for food, electricity, entertainment, or any other possible expense, along with putting money aside for savings.
Yet, despite everything that could have gone wrong, from losing my job after the holidays ended, to having sudden additional expenses, none of it did. I was hired on permanently after the holidays, I was given massive amounts of over time (sometimes working 60-80 hours a week) and I was able to spend a lot of time reading, studying, and coming to know Christ more each day. God was demonstrating his care for me in providing every physical thing I needed. But, more than the food in my belly or the root over my head, God was demonstrating his care for me in revealing himself to me as I sought to learn more about him.
In Florida, I slept on the floor, used a towel as a pillow, and did not have a blanket. I worked in a CD store in a mall, making just over minimum wage and sought every opportunity I could for overtime. I walked about a mile and a half to work in the fall and winter heat of southern Florida. (I know, it used to be that people walked a lot more than that, most of us today don't want a mile a day though. I was fortunate too that it was winter, but please be aware, southern Florida only has heat, it is never cool.) Living in Florida was hard, I would be lying to say that I look back with nostalgia and long for those days again. Yet, despite it all, I never went hungry, I never went wanting, because God provided for me in the midst of all things.
A local pastor in the area I'm living in now reminded me of what Scripture says in Psalm 37:25: "I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread." I have been young, I'm not yet old, but I can agree with David: I have yet to see the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread. Even now, I'm unemployed and looking for work, yet God continues to provide for my wife and me. In hard economic times, and in good economic times, it is God in whom we place our trust, not our money, not our skills, not our own genius, but God alone.
No comments:
Post a Comment