Idleness

It was Spring of 2012.  I held out the toothpick with the freshly cooked sausage piece on the end, smiled and said, “Here you go sir.  Please try our chicken sausage.  They are on sale today and you can get your 24-count box on the end cap display right over there.”  The gentleman, who was a friend of mine named John, chewed the piece of meat, gave a smile of approval, took a box from the display and put it in his shopping cart.  Yes!  I just sold another box of gourmet sausage for my company.  I then took off my apron with the company logo, removed my latex gloves and the hairnet from my head and told my two other team members that I was going to take a 15-minute break from my Saturday sampling session at the Costco near my neighborhood.  I went out to the parking lot, turned on my car, took a sip of water, sat there in the air conditioning and began sobbing like a baby.  I prayed sincerely to God to help me make sense of things.

“God, how the hell did I get here?  I’ve gone from being married with the perfect family and labrador retriever, with a high paying corporate job with all the benefits, to being divorced, laid off, the bank repossessing my home and now I’m selling sausage wearing a hairnet on Saturdays and Sundays to people I know at the local Costco.  Man, at one point I was responsible for $100 million in sales for one of the most iconic companies in America and negotiating sports marketing events with the NFL, NASCAR, NCAA and Major League Baseball. After that I owned my own business for a while only to see it fail.  Then came the financial ruin, the robbing Peter to pay Paul, the hiding and deception of our problems from my wife and son.  The sheriff’s deputy served us the foreclosure papers on our home.  The divorce. Then the months of living in an empty house that echoed when I breathed.   Now, I’m a 47-year-old sausage sampler working for $17.50 per hour.  Where did it all go wrong, and how do I get out of this pit I’m in?” 

I didn’t realize it at the time, but His answer, in its simplest form were two things.  The Holy Spirit and that sausage on that toothpick I handed to a friend.

I remember praying during the most difficult period of my life for a job and a way to get out of this financial mess that I had gotten my family into.  I interviewed for several very good positions with great companies.  My resume was spectacular.  But my motivation and drive were at an all-time low.  Quite simply, I didn’t come across as well in person in the interview as what my paper said about me.  My mind and being just weren’t right.  I was in despair and praying for the Spirit to groan for me.  (See Romans 8).  I isolated myself and withdrew from everything.  I was stuck.  My identity was always about how well I did in my career.  Now, it seemed that it was all gone.  Then one day, I got a call from a sausage company wanting me to lead a small team of demonstrators at Costco and Publix.  Imagine that.  Me and a few others cutting, cooking and sampling sausage and meatballs all day.  Including Saturdays and Sundays!  I was desperate and I prayed.  For some reason I felt led, so I took the job.  And for nearly two years, I hated every minute of it.

You ever here that song by Mercy Me?  “Say I Won’t”.   (Yes, you need to check out the video on YouTube as it tells the story of my brother Gary Miracle.)  There’s a line in there that strikes me every time I listen.  “I’m driving 35 with a rocket inside that I didn’t know what I had.”  Bart is singing about a few things here.  For Christians, we have the same Spirit inside of us that raised Christ from the dead.  (See Romans 8:11). Do we even think about His Spirit that indwells us upon our salvation and the power He has?   That same Spirit wants us to know our true identity.  And our identity is in Christ.  (See Galatians 2:20).  Our identity isn’t our jobs, sin, problems, past etc.  We are now in Christ Jesus.  And guess what?  That same Spirit loves when we are moving.  That same Spirit doesn’t want us to be idle.  (See 2 Thessalonians 3:6-12 and Proverbs 19:15 just to name two).  I have a friend, George, who puts it this way, “I have a Corvette living inside of me, not a Volkswagen Beetle.  And my Corvette does no good if I never take it out of the garage and let it fly.”  

I must confess, this was a time of my life when being the spiritual leader of my family and identifying myself in Christ were not priorities for me.  I failed at fighting for my marriage and lost focus on my role as a husband and father as I tried desperately on my own trying to control my life and money . . . to our detriment.  As a result, I became stuck in the worst mental and personal rut of my life.  Quite simply I parked my Corvette in the garage, and it just sat there.  I had no momentum in life at all.  I wasn’t even giving the Holy Spirit a chance to guide me due to my own self-induced, woe is me exile into nothing.  Exactly what Satan wanted me to do . . . to not think about who lives in me and who I am because of Him.

A few weeks after I handed that piece of sausage to my friend at Costco.  I received a call from an old professional colleague named Glenn.  I had worked with Glenn many years for that company I mentioned earlier.  I love Glenn very much.  We played guitar together sometimes.  Glenn had now moved on to a career with a pharmaceutical company.  He said he had heard about my personal and professional situation and struggles.  He said he had been praying for me and asked me to send him my resume.  His company was hiring, and he thought I’d be a great fit to join his team.  He then said that he thought I’d have a much better impact with his company than selling sausage.  “Wait a minute,” I asked.  “How’d you know I was sampling sausage?”  He said, “Because I just saw your friend, John, in a doctor’s office.  He works for another pharma company.  He told me about your situation.  He said you had sampled him sausage at Costco a few weeks ago and you looked heartbroken doing it.  He saw you crying in your car.  He knows what kind of man you are and wants to help you find a job to get back in the game for what your skills are made for.” 

One month later I began working on the same team as my friend Glenn.  When I called him to tell him I had been offered the pharma job, he prayed over me.  He thanked God for who I was as his friend and co-worker.  But most importantly he thanked God for who I am, in Christ and the blessing of His Grace on my life to give me the momentum to move forward and take a job that I didn’t want.  And that job took me to the day where I handed a piece of sausage on a stick to a friend at a Costco in Florida.   That piece of sausage changed my life.  After Glenn’s prayer and that season of my life, God’s grace trained me a little more in the knowledge of Him and who I am as His son.  Another step in the renewal of my mind through His Spirit.  I had finally pulled the Corvette out of the garage and floored it down the highway and let Him get to work.  I finally felt like I was on my way and on the road to recovery. 

How have you been affected in turbulent times?  Have you been in a rut?  Isolated yourself?  How did you pull the Corvette out of the garage and get your momentum back?  Did you realize how powerful God’s Grace is and the power of His Spirit?  I’d love to hear about it and the time you might have had your sausage on a toothpick moment that changed you. 

Peace, prayers and grace . . .