A helping hand on the Internet :)
Life can be very complicated. It started around this time last year, my contract had not been renewed with a major client and I had to start working with a new start up in New Zealand. Then I saw an email come across a technical mailing list looking for a Linux geek in Samoa. I thought, “What the heck, the worst thing they could say was no”. After a few phone calls and some praying my wife and I decided that we would take the offer an go. We started packing and I headed out a week and a half a head my pregnant wife and kids to see what this tropical paradise had in store for us. I was able to find a house and church for us and was having a really good time. I was really enjoying the people and the new job.
I was suppose to be taking over the Internet division and turning it into a NGN (Next Generation Network) telco. It was literately my dream job on a tropical island. I was feeling very blessed. Then about half through that first week, I started feeling uneasy in my soul. Something about this whole thing just didn’t feel right. I didn’t understand it. I spend two nights just crying out to God, asking what was going on. The feeling was making me feel sick to my stomach. I started to think that it might be culture shock, but I still could shake the feeling.
Then the next week my wife and kids arrive. She had been very positive though out the whole change and the fact that it happen so fast. She was even excited about it, which for her is huge (she does not like change very much). We both had felt like this is where we were suppose to go, but something changed in her when she stepped off the plane. Her heart just sank. She was overcome with the same feeling of uneasiness that I had been feeling. She cried pretty much the whole way to our new home. I think she was taken back by the poverty and squalor of some of the natives. We decided to take a drive around the island and see if we could settle our uneasy feelings. We had lunch at a resort on the south side of the island. There we had a chance to discuss what was going. Neither one of us could understand what we were feeling.
So that night we prayed together to see if we could get a better understanding and got nothing. We talked about it further and said we would give it 6 months. I would keep looking for a new job in New Zealand and Naomi would be going back for a few months anyway to have the baby. God had something else in mind. The next day was Sunday so we went to the church we found. It was a good service from what I can remember. After the service we went to the pastor and explained what had been going on. He prayed with and tried to comfort us. We left and I had the feeling like God was holding back. I was starting to think I had gotten it wrong and maybe were not suppose to have come to Samoa.
So we when for another drive and did our grocery shopping. It was on our way back to the house something just started stirring in my spirit. I felt like God was speaking directly to me, not audibly but to my soul. God was telling me to leave Samoa and go to my parents. It didn’t make sense. Why? Why would he tell me to go one place just so he could tell me to leave and go some where else. I thought it was nuts. So my wife and I talked it over and she agreed. So we called our travel agent and got our flights changed. I had a meeting with my boss the next day and told her we were leaving. I tried to explain it the best way I could. She told me that I hadn’t given it enough time and I just needed to be there longer then we would adjust. We left the next day.
As we took off I felt a weight lift off my shoulders. That week and a half was a learning experience. God was testing me. He wasn’t testing me to see if I trusted him, but to show me that I can trust in him. That he will take care of me no matter what happens. I finally got an answer why we had to leave. A week and one day after we left Samoa it was hit by a tsunami. God has a plan for me and my family. We are just starting the journey. There are few things we need to get through first.
Things were not easy when we got to my parents. It is hard having 3 families living under one roof. We got through that and I was able to find a job, which I am currently really enjoying. There are a few things that my family are dealing with at the moment. Last week we found out that my mom has a brain tumor and that my wife’s dad has prostate cancer. We still have some trials to get through in the very near future, but if we had not gone through all of this stuff with Samoa I don’t think we would be able to handle what lays before us in a positive way or God’s way for that matter.
I hope this will help anyone that finds themselves in a situations that don’t seem to make sense. Just remember that if you are following after God he will guide you along the path. He will meet all your needs and don’t despair.
“For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry” Matthew 11:30 (NET)