On the Job experience
By
Michael Ramsay
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I
encountered a messenger of God while I walked through the back alleys of
Vancouver’s infamous downtown eastside. He looked like a ‘dumpster diver’;
he prayed with me and officered me these words of encouragement “...but
let us also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces
perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”
– Romans 5:3,4 Inside I
sighed. I knew he was right. God gave me these words to encourage me. There were
a few lessons that he was about to teach me over the next month. My laptop had
just been stolen. My computer contained all the information for the Salvation
Army’s tutoring ministry with which I am involved. It had many irreplaceable
pictures of my children and expensive computer programmes. It was also a VERY
important tool for my ministry with the Salvation Army’s 614 Vancouver. I was
upset – angry. I needed those words - I would need them more in the coming
weeks. In
case you missed it, the word “Job” in the title of this article rhymes with
“Robe” rather the “Rob”. That being now clarified, I could envision my
name inserted into a paraphrase of the opening lines of the book of Job with
Satan asking God for permission to tempt me to curse God and die. Now
my experiences were not as intense as Job’s and I am very thankful for it;
nonetheless, these experiences did test my family and I. Here is the list in
fast forward: My
foot was injured (which slowed me down as I tried to catch my mugger), I was
mugged and had my laptop stolen. My hands were painfully swollen; my eye was
injured (painfully enough that I couldn’t even get up for days) and later
re-injured; my 2 year-old daughter suffered seizures in front of our eyes, my
car stopped working, a person in our home was struggling with heroin addiction,
the police visited our home and encouraged a roommate of ours to leave, my
in-laws’ computer and camera were stolen on subsequent nights spent in our
home along with my wife’s engagement ring and another heirloom... I
learned a lot through my Job experience. I
once again learned perseverance. Now
this wasn’t our first experience with loss nor was it our first since the LORD
brought us to the mainland to serve him in the Salvation Army here. This period
was extremely significant though. As
I had already mentioned, there was a lot of personal information and work on my
laptop that I was saddened to lose. My office computer also died at that time so
my work was near impossible to do and at a crucial time for my ministry: the
summer programmes were winding down and the fall programme planning was kicking
into full gear. The laptop had an added emotional significance in that I bought
it with the first profits a company I started from scratch earned. I found
myself unexpectedly dealing with the whole progression of loss: denial (my
laptop will be found with everything intact on it), anger, bargaining (if my
laptops shows up, I’ll …), depression, and finally acceptance. I once again learned to
rely on God
The
words in Romans, however, encouraged me to persevere and also let me know that
there was more to come – and, sure enough, there was. After a couple of
spiritual attacks through physical ailments, I was hit smack in the face with a
major one – in the eye with a foot to be precise. I couldn’t open my eye,
from the pain, for three days. It was a week before I could do anything. I
was completing the summer ministry project and getting ready to start the
tutoring ministry for kids in need without a computer, my work done to date, or
any means to recover some of it and now I was suffering through this incredible
pain that incapacitated me for even longer. I couldn’t do anything to get
ready for the new year – only God could.
I again learned to
obey Be careful
what you ask for... Months ago
the LORD told me point blank in an audible voice not to go to Crabtree Park. As
time went on, I was missing many opportunities to worship the LORD with my 614
family. You see, that was where we were holding our Spring and Summer meetings.
I spoke with one of the saints of the downtown eastside about my dilemma and he
encouraged me to seek God again and see if it was alright to go now to the
park… I did. I asked God “If you wouldn’t like me to go down to Crabtree
Park, please send Balaam’s donkey. He did. My eye was re-injured while I
slept. I awoke with that same terrible pain that I had felt before and I
couldn’t handle any natural light. My car broke down and had to go into the
shop. My daughter had a series of seizures and had to be rushed to emergency…I
met Balaam’s Donkey. I didn’t go to Crabtree and I won’t until I get an
obvious green light. I also won’t be so quick to second guess God’s specific
instructions to me either. I
again learned to let the saints pray. I mentioned
before that I liked to do things on my own. On top of that, I never liked really
telling people when something my be wrong or asking anyone for help. Even though
I have often jumped at the chance to help others I was always slow to extend
that same opportunity for them to help me. When Sarah-Grace, my two year-old
daughter, was rushed to the hospital. I not only prayed but I asked everyone I
knew to pray as well. The Lord heard our prayers. I learned the lesson. We
learned that it wasn’t all about us and We
relearned to trust God more. Many more
things happened – we had police at our home. I had to rush the girls out in
the middle of the night. We had expensive items and irreplaceable items stolen
from our home. We had suspicion cast upon anyone in our home and there were many
people in our home. We had to assist and comfort my pre-Christian in-laws as
well because it was their digital camera and laptop that were stolen from our home. By
this point though both my wife and I knew that this was not all about us. This
time it was an attack on one of our roommates who has been struggling with an
heroin addiction and it was an attack on Susan’s parents who still reject
Christianity and now may see our service here as foolish, dangerous, and/or
detrimental to the safety and well-being of our children, their grandchildren. I
was comforted By this time though, we had learned to persevere. Earlier, however, I did reach a moment of desperation, when my Sarah-Grace was in the hospital, and I cried out to God, “Why!?” He comforted me with Psalm 69. Particularly the highlighted verses: 1
Save me, O God, They
related directly to what I was going through. They showed me that God is in
charge and He is doing this for his purpose. “I will praise God’s name in
song and glorify him with thanksgiving” and I pray that this article will be a
part of that purpose. God bless. Michael Ramsay
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