This just in: I've been offered a second assignment by the magazine! So I'm on my way. Having actual bylines in a nice glossy mag like that will give me tremendous credibility in seeking out other business. Time and again in this process--from the first time I heard back from the editor while we were still living in Toronto--I had the vague sense that it was God making it happen.
In fact, in retrospect I see that over the past several years various circumstances lined up and happened "just so" so that I would have this opportunity in Alberta. First, there was my boss at Parkway Honda who asked me a few years ago to write some "profiles" of company employees for the company newsletter. Though I found it tough to do (having been out of it for so long) I complied and turned in some decent results, if I do say so.
Second, in early 2007 I, despite certain qualms (it cost a lot and I'd blown money on other courses in the past which had led nowhere) decided to take a night school course at Ryerson, Canada's premiere university for journalism. It was called Writing for the Print Media. I did well (got an A-) and had ended up with some writing samples from the course.
When both those events took place, we didn't know we were moving to Alberta. Granted it may have been a vague notion we talked about once in a while early last year, but it didn't seem serious. Anyhow, as it turned out, both occurences proved to be vital to my getting the inital assignment. They gave me just enough credibility that the editor was willing to give me a try, though she expressed her doubts. "I don't know if you can write; and I don't think you know either," she had said.
And she was right: I didn't know. Sure I knew I could tap merrily away in my blog and in e-mails, but deep in my soul I knew that writing for a first-rate publication would be another matter altogether. Even in my confident youth, I'd only ever written for a publication that demanded very little indeed. This would be a whole new ball game.
So over the past several weeks my doubts about my capacities were intense; yet I had just enough faith, based on the remarkable circumstance, to keep taking the next step. "If this endeavor is going to go down the toilet," I thought to myself, "it had better not be because I chicken out this time. No way, Jose. (And Lord help me!!)"
When I finally did start working on the article--as if those self-doubts weren't enough--it seemed that a whole series of obstacles were being thrown in my path. Right off the bat the side of my face swelled up due to some infection in my gum tissue. (That might cure me of eating beef jerky, then flossing with a cheap product that jammed something into the gum.) Weird! I was wiped out by it and had to start on heavy duty antibiotics. As a result I was delayed by a few precious days in getting started on the assignment.
Next, we began experiencing all kinds of complications with needed repairs to the house we're renting plus bizarre and exasperating experiences trying to get our internet, cable TV, and phone services. There was one thing after another--sitting on hold, burning up cell phone minutes, going to the mall or Wal-Mart to use a pay phone to wait on hold, the installer arriving and needing to get into the unit below us, and on and on and on. And meanwhile I was trying to communicate with the editor and act eager and willing while doing my best.
All of this, as you might imagine, resulted in a lot of prayer. I mean, again and again and again. It kept reminding me of how really dependent we are on God. Most of our lives we go along under the illusion that we pretty much have everything under control, and then suddenly circustances arise which show us the real situation, i.e., that God is running the show... This happened when I got cancer a couple years ago, and it happened again over the past two weeks.
At one of my lowest moments what came to me was that the real story wasn't this article I was sweating over: it was what was going on behind the scenes, in the unseen--and what would be happening one day when I finally meet Jesus. God wanted me to be ready for that, and for whatever hard times may come before then. That was what it was all about ("and don't you forget it!").
What I'm hoping and praying is that next time I won't forget it.
In fact, in retrospect I see that over the past several years various circumstances lined up and happened "just so" so that I would have this opportunity in Alberta. First, there was my boss at Parkway Honda who asked me a few years ago to write some "profiles" of company employees for the company newsletter. Though I found it tough to do (having been out of it for so long) I complied and turned in some decent results, if I do say so.
Second, in early 2007 I, despite certain qualms (it cost a lot and I'd blown money on other courses in the past which had led nowhere) decided to take a night school course at Ryerson, Canada's premiere university for journalism. It was called Writing for the Print Media. I did well (got an A-) and had ended up with some writing samples from the course.
When both those events took place, we didn't know we were moving to Alberta. Granted it may have been a vague notion we talked about once in a while early last year, but it didn't seem serious. Anyhow, as it turned out, both occurences proved to be vital to my getting the inital assignment. They gave me just enough credibility that the editor was willing to give me a try, though she expressed her doubts. "I don't know if you can write; and I don't think you know either," she had said.
And she was right: I didn't know. Sure I knew I could tap merrily away in my blog and in e-mails, but deep in my soul I knew that writing for a first-rate publication would be another matter altogether. Even in my confident youth, I'd only ever written for a publication that demanded very little indeed. This would be a whole new ball game.
So over the past several weeks my doubts about my capacities were intense; yet I had just enough faith, based on the remarkable circumstance, to keep taking the next step. "If this endeavor is going to go down the toilet," I thought to myself, "it had better not be because I chicken out this time. No way, Jose. (And Lord help me!!)"
When I finally did start working on the article--as if those self-doubts weren't enough--it seemed that a whole series of obstacles were being thrown in my path. Right off the bat the side of my face swelled up due to some infection in my gum tissue. (That might cure me of eating beef jerky, then flossing with a cheap product that jammed something into the gum.) Weird! I was wiped out by it and had to start on heavy duty antibiotics. As a result I was delayed by a few precious days in getting started on the assignment.
Next, we began experiencing all kinds of complications with needed repairs to the house we're renting plus bizarre and exasperating experiences trying to get our internet, cable TV, and phone services. There was one thing after another--sitting on hold, burning up cell phone minutes, going to the mall or Wal-Mart to use a pay phone to wait on hold, the installer arriving and needing to get into the unit below us, and on and on and on. And meanwhile I was trying to communicate with the editor and act eager and willing while doing my best.
All of this, as you might imagine, resulted in a lot of prayer. I mean, again and again and again. It kept reminding me of how really dependent we are on God. Most of our lives we go along under the illusion that we pretty much have everything under control, and then suddenly circustances arise which show us the real situation, i.e., that God is running the show... This happened when I got cancer a couple years ago, and it happened again over the past two weeks.
At one of my lowest moments what came to me was that the real story wasn't this article I was sweating over: it was what was going on behind the scenes, in the unseen--and what would be happening one day when I finally meet Jesus. God wanted me to be ready for that, and for whatever hard times may come before then. That was what it was all about ("and don't you forget it!").
What I'm hoping and praying is that next time I won't forget it.
posted by Ted | 10:30 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home