The "Temp" Job

I did not know I could be a writer until I quit writing.  I felt all along that my participation in the work of social services as a grant writer and program developer was designed for someone else.  Since that someone failed to show up or just said “no” to the offer, God tapped me.  I sensed that the work was a “someone-has-to-pay-the-price” thing and that the Lord could not find anyone else to climb into the saddle of this race horse.  Since He knew I was available, he placed me in that fast-paced, firing-range type position doing a work that He simply needed to have done.

I raised millions and millions of dollars in the nation’s War on Poverty, but always felt like a fish-out-of-water.  I just showed up.  After all, my training is in Microbiology and Psychology, not English or Social Services.  But God accomplished a work in spite of me.  Truly a miracle!

The technical writing is over and I now write in a different way.  But I appreciate some things that I learned while engaged in that “temp” job that lasted 26 years. 

First, I came to the computer each morning desperate, since I felt that I knew nothing whatsoever.  For years the work day started with me calling out for God to be God in the weighty matters before me. I began one step at a time and things of importance came forth at the point of greatest need and only as I worked.

Also, I learned God’s intense care for persons experiencing poverty and homelessness.  This passion often gripped me so hard and strong that I paced the floor.  The office area was large and other staff came know the pacing as part of my workday.

I also learned to fight.  I sensed that often what was going on was out of sight and in another realm, so I came to work early in order to pray for this non-profit organization, and it became needed component of my day.  The writing continued, but prayer was my center point.  I learned that I was not alone, ever. 

 

I now write in a different way, but sometimes still cannot imagine that this writing life is for real and not just another “temp” job. Yet something is different.  I seldom resist the computer when my resident friend, desperation, is there.  I accept this “guy”, since he seems to partner rather closely with the living God.

I sense that I really do not need to know much of anything.  I just need to know Him.