Putting God first... even at work

God is a faithful God. Wherever I go, he will put at least one Christian brother with me. From my BMT bunk mate - Justin, to my camp mate - Sean Teng, to Uncle John at Cuppage, to Raymond Tan at Da Vinci Building. God has never left me without a Christian friend & helping hand. Praises unto Him!

His name is Raymond Tan Seng Choong. If I remember correctly, he should be about 40-41 years old. Married at a relatively late age of 37. No kids (I didn't ask why). Active in church & with a heart for missions.

Recently, I have been toying around with the thought of whether I would survive my probation or whether this is really the job for me. Raymond was kind enough to spend his lunch time talking to me over a meal. In fact, he took it further by carrying on the conversation at one of the meeting rooms after lunch hour. Even when he received calls in between about his work.

Raymond shared one of his testimonies with me. It is about God's faithfulness when we are faithful in what & where he has called us to be. This may not necessarily mean I'll be staying at StarHub for the rest of my working life, but his testimony focuses on God's faithfulness in honoring those who trust in Him.

In his previous job, Raymond was in the manufacturing industry. His job was hectic, involving work on the weekends as well. In fact, everyone was very busy with their work, till coming back to work on the weekends seem normal & worse of all, expected of staff who choose to exhibit that they want to excel in their job.

Raymond is not born into a Christian family. He accepted Christ in the later years of his adolescence. At that point of time, he was in his 20s & actively serving in his church. He knew where his commitments & priority lies, so he made a stand to his boss, that he is not able to work on weekends due to commitments in other areas of his life (i.e. church).

Naturally & expectedly, his boss was unhappy. Everyone else was working on the weekends & here comes this fella who insist on not working on the weekends. I mean, which is more important? Work or other commitments? Most bosses would consider work more important, especially since its their own company. Or at least they are paid to run the company well.

For this choice, Raymond suffered 3 consequences. Firstly, he was blackmarked by his boss. Secondly, the whole company of staff turned against him because of his attitude. Thirdly, he was put on probation status, even after working for 7 years in the company, solely because the boss wants to assess his performance to see whether he is up to the job. Afterall, every!one is working on the weekends to clear their work & this guy refuses to do likewise!

It was a very tough time for Raymond. He was studying a 5 years part-time diploma, had to earn to support his parents & his wife, and at the same time handle all these persecution in the office. Trying to imagine his situation really makes me think that I'm already very blessed in my current job. Despite all this, Raymond still pressed on... even in terms of his serving in church.

God is faithful & He honored Raymond's choice to trust in Him. Despite missing the number of extra working hours which Raymond spent in church, instead of being at work, Raymond continued to do his best on the weekdays & his performance got better. In fact, he was able to cope despite putting in lesser working hours than his fellow colleagues. Nobody could fault him because he did his job well.

One day, the company decided to retrench some of its staff. Many were surprised because the company was making a lot of money, yet it wanted to retrench staff. Somehow Raymond knew that his name was on the list because he has already been blackmarked, since the time he refused to work on the weekends. When the day came when he was called into the office, he was given the 'golden handshake', explained his retrenchment package & had to leave the company.

Raymond was sad because he had put in many years into this company & the management didn't appreciate him (or those retrenchment) one bit. He was worried because at that time, Singapore was in a recession & it was very difficult to find a job. After sending out hundreds of resumes, he decided to take a short 2 weeks overseas holiday with his family.

While he was overseas, he began receiving calls to attend job interviews, but he had no choice but to refuse because he was with his family overseas. Some of the job interviews were jobs that he wanted to do, but had no choice but to reject till he returned to Singapore. How easy would it be to just wallow in self-pity! If I were in that situation, I would have probably grumbled at God, ralling that why He had to do this to me, when I'm overseas with my family. Isn't it a very tough time to get a job? Why did God let this happen?

It must have a very rough time for Raymond. I'm not sure if he was already married at that point of time, but even without being married, the situation was bad enough for him. My Dad himself has gone through the phase of losing his job & having much difficulty finding another due to the lack of relevant skills & his age.

But Raymond continued to trust God. And when he returned from his trip, he suddenly received two job offers! I don't remember him telling me that he went for an interview (I think he should have at least gone for the first interview), but the point is that he was already offered a job when he returned to Singapore! Not just one offer, but two! God is so good that He even gave Raymond a choice of which to accept! Truly amazing... now I know what Raymond meant when he said that it is only when we look back later, that we see how God was working in our lives.

Often, we need to have patience & wait on the Lord for His right & perfect timing. Changing a job may be a possibility, but it may not necessarily mean right now. Of coz, there are times when we are plucked out from where we are, to do something else which God has planned for us. But other than such exceptions, its still about God's timing. In the end, it is our faith that pleases God. And we learn to rely on Him.