Who Moved My Cheese?
An EBC friend asked me this morning during our zoom prayer call if I was familiar with the book Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson. He was mentioning the book because I had shared with the group about how I’m working to implement and encourage some positive growth and changes at Rock Nest Ranch, as I serve here this summer. Often, leading towards growth and change brings some challenges along with it. I had to confess that yes, I am quite familiar with Who Moved My Cheese. A boss I had many years ago asked me to read that book. A week later, he laid me off. In that moment, it seemed quite clear who, exactly, had moved my cheese!
That little trip down memory lane was surprisingly helpful for me today, though. Because I know exactly who it was that “moved my cheese”, and it wasn’t really my boss. The Lord was intimately and sovereignly involved in my job loss. He was moving me into something else, and He just hadn’t shared the details with me yet.
Keep in mind that I lost my job in Dec 2007. This was about five months after Leanne and I were married. I was grateful to receive unemployment, and I was eligible for exactly six months of unemployment. But six months goes by quickly, and I knew I needed some gainful employment to keep paying the new bills that never slowed down. During those six months I looked and looked for a job, but with no success. I had a couple interviews, but all my efforts resulted in no opportunities.
It was late in the Spring of 2007, when suddenly the youth pastor role at EBC became available. The church was a whole lot smaller then, so at that point it was just a part-time role. But Youth Ministry was exactly what I was hoping to do with my life; it was what I had gone to school to prepare for, and I couldn’t be more excited at the prospect! We had been waiting until Leanne finished school before pursuing ministry opportunities, but now suddenly there was an opportunity right at the church where we were already serving as volunteer youth leaders!
I started my role at EBC on July 1, 2008. Ironically and fittingly, I was at Rock Nest Ranch on the day I officially started the job, as I was on a pre-planned mission trip with a group of friends. That was also the day that my six months of unemployment ran out. At just the right time, the Lord provided a job for me. And what a perfect job it has been. I am so grateful for all these years serving at Evergreen. I had no idea, when the Lord “moved my cheese” by taking away a good job, that part of what the Lord was doing was lining up a situation that would be such a great fit for me!
I was talking with someone else just a few days ago, who has been looking and looking for a job opportunity after finishing school in December, but try as she might, she has not been able to secure a position yet. So she ended up coming up to Rock Nest Ranch this summer to serve. I shared with her that, based on my experiences with the Lord during the times when He has both taken away or withheld from me, that it may just be that His intention was to hold back her opportunities, because He had this summer missions opportunity for her to do, first, and she wouldn’t have been able to be here if she had been otherwise employed.
I share all this by way of encouragement (hopefully!). Perhaps you’re in a season where you are waiting on the Lord to provide employment, to solve health concerns, to repair broken relationships, etc. And you may wonder why it’s taking longer than you would have hoped for or expected. Take heart that, as you are trusting the Lord and seeking Him, He isn’t unaware, nor is He slow to act on your behalf. It might just be that he “moved your cheese”, because He is lining up something you wouldn’t have otherwise expected or even known to ask for!
Pastor Ryan Donovan
Categories: Evergreen Connection