Give Me a Break

Our family was deeply moved when we together went to see "The Pursuit of Happyness." Based on a true story, it tells of a man named Chris Gardner (played terrifically by Will Smith) whose wife abandoned him and their young son. They ended up homeless in San Francisco while Chris struggled to make a living selling bone scanners to doctors. Then he saw a great opportunity -- to get the choice job of an intern at the investment firm, Dean Witter. I won't give away all the plot, in case you haven't seen it yet.

However, there is one theme from that film that keeps lingering in my heart. Chris would not have made it if he had not been given a break by some people in power. He was very vulnerable, struggling to take care of his young son while living on the edge financially and dealing with a very competitive and stressful internship -- an unpaid internship at that! Two men in particular gave Chris a chance to break through his poverty -- the executive at Dean Witter who accepted him into the internship program and a CEO at a large telecommunications company who introduced him to many potential clients.

I thought of the times when I really needed someone in power to help me out. In the early 90's, when our kids were very young and I was working two part-time jobs at ACU and finishing a master's degree, we were on the edge financially. And I was very frustrated in not having a full-time job and not being able to use my gifts and ministry experience. I always remember that time in the spring of '92 when both of my jobs ran out and I was sitting at home in our duplex wondering what I was going to do for work. Then I heard a knock on the door, opened it up and there was Terry O'Rear, who at the time was on staff at Highland. He told me that he found some funds to be able to hire me part-time as his ministry assistant. I was thrilled.

Then the next year when things were still unstable for me career-wise, Randy Becton, then CEO at Herald of Truth, offered me a job writing scripts for the radio program he taped each day. A few months later he asked me to take over his job as response minister. This eventually turned into full-time work for the next eight years. I was in need of a break, and God used men like Terry O'Rear and Randy Becton to open those doors and release me into meaningful work and some financial stability.

I'm thinking of all those that come into the Service Center each day -- feeling vulnerable, weary of poverty, perhaps embarrassed at asking for help. We could have this air of superiority -- that we are the strong ones helping those who are weak. But I would hope that instead we'd have a spirit of humility, knowing that absolutely everything we have comes from God. And I would hope that we would allow the Holy Spirit to grant us the same kind of compassion that Jesus had (and still has!) on the weak and vulnerable. This verse that I read this morning describes so well how our Lord treats the strugglers of life:

He will not crush those who are weak,
or quench the smallest hope,
until he brings full justice with his final victory.
And his name will be the hope
of all the world. -- Matt. 12:20-21

Lord Jesus, please deliver me from any sort of pride about the blessings You have entrusted to me. Remind me that in my own weakness, You are my strength. And please give me a heart like You, so that I'll gently and lovingly be an encourager and an advocate to those who are in vulnerable positions of life. For Your glory and praise, Amen.


Jim