I Certainly Don't Believe In Coincidence... Page 2

the fact that I had texted Brett a few weeks before for the first time in months, maybe a year. Had I not texted him and randomly told him that we bought a house in Woodstock, I’m positive I would not have popped into his head when Sean was asking around for a bass player. It was no coincidence that I had texted Brett that day. This wasn’t the phone call that I wanted, but now I know it was the phone call God wanted. I didn’t get a phone call from another company that day, and I didn’t turn in my two weeks notice, but I knew that this wasn’t a coincidence and I was excited to see what God’s purpose was with THIS phone call.

  The Lord’s Prayer – And The Unsuspecting Pastor

  The next thing I know, I’m at Sequoyah High School in Canton, Georgia at 8:30 on a Sunday morning. I am anxiously the first one in the parking lot. A few cars pull up, and I get out and start to walk in behind the group. They all turned around and introduced themselves, asked if I was the bass player, and immediately showed appreciation for my attendance. These people didn’t seem so evil. I guess I had a really positive attitude this morning. Other than my also-visiting wife and in-laws, I don’t know a soul in this building as the service begins.

 

  As this finds you, I don’t know if you go to church regularly, visit occasionally, or have ever been at all. One thing you’ll hear from preachers fairly often is “I don’t know who this sermon is for, but someone here needs this today.” I’ve honestly never once felt like a sermon was for me. I’ve been in a lot of church services in my twenty-five years; a lot of services without ever hearing a sermon for me.

  In this month, Pastor Jeremy (whom I had met in the parking lot) was working through the Lord’s Prayer. This particular week we were looking at the “Give us this day our daily bread” portion of the prayer. Pastor Jeremy spoke about the aforementioned children of Israel and how while they wandered in the desert for forty years, they had to rely on God daily for their… well, daily bread. If you aren’t familiar with the story, here’s a brief synopsis. God delivered the children out of slavery in Egypt (watch the cartoon ‘Prince of Egypt,’ awesome movie). The group got away from the Egyptian army by walking across the Red Sea on dry land behind the leadership of Moses. They became disobedient, and kind of ungrateful. As punishment for their actions, God kept them out of the land that he had promised for the next forty years. They had to wander in the desert during that time.

 

  Their first thought was my first thought when it came to leaving my job and source of income… food! Where would their literal food come from, and where would my proverbial ‘food’ (aka money to pay student loans) come from? They learned that they had to trust God to provide it day-by-day. In the story, if they took more than one day’s worth of bread, it rotted overnight. Saturday’s were different though. God wanted them to rest on Sunday, so Saturday they were instructed to take two day’s worth. When they did on Saturday, the bread didn’t rot. Great story, read it for yourself, it’s in Exodus 16.

  Jeremy told one story that brought it all into perspective. It was of a missionary, who before going overseas and into the mission field full-time, saved up enough money to fly home if their ministry wasn’t fruitful. Guess what? Their ministry was going nowhere fast. This individual was seeking direction from God as to what to do, and felt God speak to them and ask them if they really trusted that they were where He wanted them. The answer was yes, and then it hit them. If they trust that, why do they need a savings account as a backup plan?

  I say this a lot, but Wow. I had been telling God for a year and a half that I would leave, as I felt I was supposed to, but only if he made the first move.

  In telling someone (I don’t remember who) the story to this point and how excited I was that I had finally heard a sermon for me, I was reminded of another conversation of mine from a few weeks prior. A friend of mine was unhappy in his job. This friend doesn’t have the same beliefs as me. He quit his job one day. Didn’t turn in a two weeks notice, and he has a wife and child. He was so unhappy that he put it all on the line and quit. The very next day he got a phone call that was essentially a job offer. It took a lot for me who doesn’t talk about religious things to ask this, but I posed the question to him that day. Did he really not think someone out there that was bigger than him was looking out for him? I was not comfortable asking, and this was weeks before my story began, so I couldn’t back it up if the conversation went too far, I just wanted to pose the question.

  Your Move, Matthew – Faith and Affirmation

  So here I was. There was no way it was a coincidence that I texted Brett out of the blue, got a phone call from Stranger Sean, was off work for the first Sunday in months on the very weekend that I was asked to come to this church, ended up in a place where I knew no one, and heard a sermon from Jeremy that pretty much felt like God was saying to me, “Do you trust me?” Well, I decided I did. The next morning, I turned in my two-weeks notice. I would just have to be obedient, and then trust God for my “daily bread.” Did I have the same faith as my friend who doesn’t even share my beliefs? If Jeremy reads this (which I hope he does at some point), he will be shocked. I haven’t told him this story yet as I write this, and I’m pretty sure the last thing a preacher would want to hear is that someone they didn’t know quit their job because of their message. Sorry Jeremy, but the good news is that there is more to my story.

  My employer was shocked that I quit, none of my supervisors had any idea that this was coming or that I felt the way I did. They asked me to stay for three weeks to help with an inventory and I offered to do that. In that time, I had to get a lot more serious about looking for a job. I filled out about twenty applications and started sending emails. All of a sudden, I was very active on LinkedIn for the first time. In that three weeks, I had a lot of time to reflect, and I also had a lot of explaining to do.

 

  Everyone around me from my supervisors to my subordinates wanted answers. Why was I leaving? I was fairly successful in my career to this point, everyone thought I was happy, and out of the blue I’m going to be gone. I saw this as a great opportunity. If you’ve ever had something happen to you that was so great that you felt like you HAVE to tell someone, you know what I’m talking about. I was so thrilled about what God was doing, that I was ready to tell everyone. I began sharing my new story.

  A few days later, I was sharing this story with a co-worker. She asked me what I was going to do for money. I took advantage of this opportunity. I told her about the sermon I heard at the church I ended up at. I told her that I was trusting God for my daily bread, and I knew there would be something on the other end of it for me. What I am about to share is probably my favorite part of the story. While I was having that conversation, my phone went off. It was a text message from Sean, the worship pastor that I played with the previous Sunday. He wanted my information to send me a check to thank me for my help. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! The timing was impeccable. During a conversation about trusting God for my daily bread, I get a text message telling me to expect a check in the mail? Again, wow. Granted, it wasn’t a salary, it wasn’t huge, but it was something. It wasn’t going to be regular income, it was a one time deal. It just showed me quickly that my faith and trust wasn’t in vein. It gave me total affirmation that I was being obedient.

  Back in the Saddle – “What are your weaknesses?”

  Now the job hunt had to get serious. I hadn’t seriously looked for a job in a long time. My wife and I were in shape to make it for a little bit on one salary, but not forever. I knew a few people, and reached out to them. Within a week or so of being unemployed, I contacted a former customer of mine who was a high ranking executive in a company I was interested in working for. Within a few hours, he had sent my information off to the right people, and within a couple of days, I was contacted by someone within the company to set up an interview. This would be my first job interview since 2007, however I was strangely unnervous (made-up word) and rather comfortable with how it would go.

&n
bsp; The interview went extremely well. So well, that as it wrapped up, they let me know that they would call me if any positions opened up in the next few weeks. You see, they didn’t have any job openings at the time, and it would be weeks before they would, and even that was just a chance. So the job hunt would continue, and would lead me to another interview.

  I was contacted to interview with a District Manager of a large company that I know I would enjoy working for. I actually have a lot of friends that work for this company, so I reached out (ironically) to the same friend from earlier. That job offer he got the day after he quit? Yea, it was from the same company that now wanted to interview me. Again, I don’t believe in coincidences. I reached out to that friend for advice for my interview the next morning. A small detail that he included was that his District Manager was a man of strong faith. We didn’t talk much about it, but it was a detail that intrigued me.

  The next afternoon, I showed up for my interview ready to rock. I had to land this job. I don’t remember what the progression was, but