Testimonies
“Lord, what should I do?”
by Dan Blankenship
I doubt many people plan a career in hazardous waste material handling. But when you’re a twenty-something husband and father, and thirty-six hour paychecks from a grocery store are failing to keep the electricity on, one becomes flexible with one’s chosen career path. How dangerous could hazardous waste be, anyway? Plenty, as I discovered in my ten years of working for one of the largest recycling companies in the world. Fires, releases (a nice name for SPILLS), splashes, reactions, more fires, and fumes, those dreaded fumes, were just some of the pitfalls I discovered after my career change was already in full swing.
It is indeed a strange task to try and describe the adrenaline a man experiences when he is walking down a catwalk, 80,000 gallon tanks of the most flammable liquids mankind has produced stacked below the traveling boots, seventy feet above the fatal concrete, hail and lightning bolts chasing after a seemingly useless hard hat, but trust me on this, it is intense. But valves needed to be opened, high-liquid level alarms must be inspected, liquid samples must be drawn, and besides, there are lightning rods to attract the actual bolts away from the ducking and weaving hazardous material operator, or in this case, me. It was not the adrenaline that got me through the dangerous days and nights at a plant that could have used its own fire station. It was the days and nights with my beautiful wife and adorable daughters. As God had provided me with the resources to provide for my family, I found no greater peace than in doing just that. Kissing my wife and kids goodnight in a safe and happy home, full of the things that make a house complete, was worth all the Indiana Jones moments I experienced during my workweek.
But things, they change. And sometimes, they change dramatically. Such was indeed the case with the company that for nine years had brought a sense of stability and comfort to my home life. A hostile takeover of the company jeopardized the security of many in the corporation. People left on their own, predicting the coming storm. And others, well, they left during the actual storm. I, having dodged lightning bolts, pressurized releases, a few fires, and a couple of explosions, believed I could ride out this corporate changeover. I was wrong, and towards the end things weren’t pretty.
The new owners had a strategy to reduce the payrolls throughout this multinational corporation: Create an environment in which workers with seniority will be extremely uncomfortable, and in the end the payroll for each of the more than one-hundred facilities will be reduced. Employees were required to cross train on every job, and those same employees reported for work everyday without an inkling of where or what their assigned task would be. The new owners hired managers well-suited for the task at hand – make the employee’s life miserable, and in return, a handsome bonus shall be delivered.
It was at this point in my hazardous waste career that I decided to bid on a job opening in the shipping and receiving office, one of the few places where employees were not required to cross train on five other jobs. At first, things went well. One of the office clerks trained me on the ins and outs of hazardous waste manifests laws and regulations. There were various computer software and programs I was required to learn. I enjoyed my training. However, it was only a matter of time until the takeover storm invaded the office workers – the last group to suffer the consequences of the hostile takeover.
Gradually, day by day to be exact, more work was added to the shipping and receiving clerk positions, until even veterans of the job were talking about leaving the company. I was on my tenth year of employment, and I found the pressure inside the office more intense than scurrying the catwalks with an electric sky as a companion. I had to get out – the pressure was eating away at my sanity, as was the case for most who experienced the takeover. I had never quit a job without first having another, higher paying, job lined up. But exactly where was I going to find a job that started off at eighteen dollars-an-hour. I knew the answer to that. I wasn’t going to find one. I turned to the only one I could: God. He would know what to do, and I knew if I went to Him in prayer, He would provide an answer. He would, as I had always believed, show me a way, where there seemed to be no way.
My first prayer was simple. I asked Jesus to give me a since of peace as I went about my job. I never felt it. I would literally become sick to my stomach on my drive into work. I actually became upset with the Creator of the Universe because a since of calm never came over me during these dark days. I tried praying harder and longer, but it seemed like things only got worse. Our plant manager was specifically relocated to our facility because he had no personal ties to any employee; he was there for one purpose – eliminate the high-wage earners. The pressure from undeserving verbal reprimands, changes in policy, and the shifting of job descriptions was like being assaulted daily with a red tape Tommy Gun.
Finally, feeling as though I had not prayed earnestly enough, I sat in my car one night, and in the parking lot of the company that had put food on my table, clothes on my back, and a roof over my head, I prayed. I prayed harder than I ever had before. I remember shaking as I asked God what to do. My prayers had usually been a request for a certain thing to happen, a certain event to go my way, or for a loved one to defy the coming onslaught of earthly death. But this time, I simply asked, “Lord, what should I do?”
It was then that I remembered the words found in Matthew 5:25-27 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”
My answer was found. I was a hard worker, I had a decent understanding of the English language, and I had an impressive resume. All gifts from God. Why should I stay where I was not wanted? And why, for even a second, would I doubt God’s ability to care of me and my family.
That night, I went home and told my wife about my decision to leave the company. She was extremely supportive of my decision; another sign of heavenly intervention. The next day, I told the plant manager I was leaving the company. He excitedly accepted my two weeks notification – an increased-bonus-smile was etched upon his face. When he asked where I was off to, I informed him I had not found new employment as of yet. His jaw dropped. When he asked me if things were really that bad at the plant, and I could tell he wanted me to acknowledge that they were, I answered him with the following: “Things are indeed bad here, but that’s not why I am leaving. I’m leaving because God is really good.” And then I left his office, never regretting my decision to leave the company.
The following year was a struggle, and I took jobs that, at times, rivaled the depressive aura of my previous employment. But after that year was up, I found employment with a respectable company that has provided for my family all that I could ask. God had not only answered my prayer, but He had shown me how to listen to His words, His guidance, and most of all, His unique love; “your heavenly father feeds them.”
PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
The opinions expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com. This is especially true with articles that
deal with personal healthcare and prophecy. We encourage the reader to make their own decision in consultation with God, His Word, and others as needed.
This article has been read 1454 times < Previous | Next >
Read more articles by Dan Blankenship or search for other articles by topic below.
This article has been read 1454 times < Previous | Next >
Search for articles on: (e.g. creation; holiness etc.)
Read more by clicking on a link:Free Reprints
Main Site Articles
Most Read Articles
Highly Acclaimed Challenge Articles.
New Release Christian Books for Free for a Simple Review.
NEW - Surprise Me With an Article - Click here for a random URL
God is Not Against You - He Came on an All Out Rescue Mission to Save You
...in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them... 2 Cor 5:19
Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Acts 13:38
LEARN & TRUST JESUS HERE
FaithWriters offers Christian reading material for Christian readers. We offer Christian articles, Christian fiction, Christian non-fiction, Christian Bible studies, Christian poems, Christian articles for sale, free use Christian articles, Christian living articles, New Covenant Christian Bible Studies, Christian magazine articles and new Christian articles. We write for Jesus about God, the Bible, salvation, prayer and the word of God.
You have an excellent way with words.
Noted a common spelling glitch: "since of peace" should be "sense".
Thanks for the encouragement.
KPC
God Bless!