On Monday Janurary 5th, 2004, I had a job interview with KCMO. The weather was eerily similar to last week's weather. It was just above zero degrees with a wind chill of minus 20. I parked in a surface parking lot over near the Commerce Bank at 11th Street and I-35. I walked three blocks to City Hall wearing only a suit. That was my first experience with the wind tunnel that exists around the east side of downtown.
Two days later I was on a plane to Orlando where I had set up a series of job interviews in the Tampa/Sarasota area. We had been discussing relocating since I was bearish on the long term job market for engineers in the KC region given the lack of new business development of the area and population growth. (10 years later, still same story). The demographics of the country, no state business income tax and cost of living sold Florida even without their million times better climate.
While in Florida, I stopped in a local grocery store to pick up a case of water like I always do on trips because it's cheaper to buy at the grocer than the quickie mart. I only packed sleeping shorts/shirts so I stuck out walking around in a suit with all the retirees. I really stuck out because I was sweating bullets. My body wasn't conformed to a temperature of 45 degrees with 100% humidity because just two days earlier I was in minus 20 wind chill. Everyone in the store was all bundled up. It was the coldest day of the year and the locals weren't used to it. I used the sweating as an ice breaker in some of the interviews to explain why I looked like Richard Nixon in 1960.
If I would have taken one of the job that offers that were 25% higher than I was making in KCMO, I am fairly confident given my engineering skills and my business education I would be doing substantially better financially than I am now. The engineering industry is dominated with people who have book smarts but lack awareness and ability to understand the big picture. It's really not their fault, the engineering education system does not train engineers to think. It trains engineers to solve theoretical problems without real world applications. If you discuss empathy in a room full of engineers, you would get the same glass-eyed look if you were talking about abstinence in a brothel. That's why I try to encourage people in this industry to not waste their money on a masters degree. There is no point of paying a ton of money to do more math problems. I encourage them to go MBA so they learn how to apply math to money and learn how to communicate the goals and objectives of an engineering solution. The above level of detail and suspect coherence illustrates how engineering education teaches one how to write. Full of detail and irrelevant points missing the big picture.
Now getting back to point...I had interviewed with numerous private consulting firms in Tampa and Sarasota along with a couple of governmental entities. While I was down there, I experienced what real life in Tampa is like. When I got back on the plane, I had a gut feeling that despite the long-term benefits Florida offered, we were not supposed to move down there. Keep in mind I was coming home on a plane to freezing cold and ice on the ground. Even though I got 5 job offers all of which paid more than I was pulling down here, I wasn't supposed to move to Tampa. How do know that? For over a year I had been in a non-optimal work situation. I had been praying for guidance from God on what I was supposed to be doing.
As Christian, this was God's way of breaking me. During this time period in my life I learned humility, became more thankful for what I had, and learned the idea of contentment. I learned that chasing future earnings over God's plan would lead to misery. This experience was something real 10 years ago. Keep in mind I am not preaching a prosperity Christianity. The cause of Jesus is hindered by televangelists and money churches all over the country. If you've never heard the term "prosperity gospel" learn below.
Jesus doesn't want your money, he wants you. Plain and simple. I don't have all the answers but I know a lot of people that are more wise than myself. If you are seeking something more than wordly rewards, I would be more than willing to connect some people with you to discuss in more detail.
Do you realize how blessed you are just being in America? No matter how much your current situation may not be ideal, you have access to clean drinking water and stores full of food that are open 24 hours. Think about how many people in the world have died trying to get into this country. Think of all the people that risked and lost their lives escaping totalarianism in the Soviet Union, Cuba, North Korea, East Germany, etc. Think of all the defenseless, innocent people slaughtered by Stalin, Che Guevara, Pol Pot, Hitler, Mao, etc. The ignorant America bashers that dominate public universities and teach the "America is evil" drivel would have been the first ones sent to the labor camps for critizing the country in these other areas. We have it made here. Think about that.
Unfortunately too many people are chasing the prosperity gospel or material things. It reminds me of Matther chapter 6:
You Cannot Serve God and Riches
24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
Do Not Worry
25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
That's some very wise advice on perspective. Don't get me wrong, as a sinner saved by grace I still struggle with pride, covetness, and greed. Even with the horrid engineering job market here, I have passed up some offers that I could have taken that paid more.
Why? Because I just know that I have been working where I am supposed to be working. How long will that last? I don't really know. It's been a pleasure serving people all over KCMO. It's been fun having this pardody/history/news/sports blog hobby. It's been fun meeting people all over. It's been fun making fun of myself and things. People need to lighten up and enjoy life. I hope that I am helping you with that.
I also hope that if you haven't had a time in your life where you've made the decision to follow Jesus that one day you would.
While I know that some of you might roll your eyes at all of this, I just want you to know that I feel a duty out of obedience and more out of love to let you know that Jesus does love you and if there is anything I can do to help you realize that, I would do it. Dr. Charles Stanely provides this video and explains salvation a lot better than I can.