Sep 21, 2014

Pondering’s

I have talked about Abundance, but have not given living examples. In this article I will share only some of the times of Abundance that has appeared in my life, both before and after the moment when I became Aware of God with my vision in 1967.

 

When I was a senior in high school, I was taking college prep courses, but I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. My Dad suggested I take a machinist course in the evening which was being offered at the local public high school, since he was a machinist, (actually at that point the foreman of the advanced machine shop). I liked doing things with my hands. I did take the course, found I enjoyed it and had a skill for machines, and when I finished, the instructor asked me if I would like an apprenticeship at the small mold-making company where he worked. I accepted, and for the next year learned so much. I can still sharpen a drill bit of any size without any guidance but my hands and eyes.

This was in 1952-3. The Korean War ended, and an apprentice who had been drafted into the Army came back and wanted his job back, which by law they had to give him, and being a very small company, led to me being laid off from that job. I spend time doing piece machining work when a small machine shop had an order, painting houses and garages, and other part time work. Then Dad offered me a job as a testing technician at his place of employment, which made fuel pumps for aircraft. Fall was quickly approaching, and I had no work, so I accepted. I found I was a natural at this, and within one year I was lead technician. I was working on an advanced high pressure pump with an engineer, when he sat me down, and insisted I go to school to be an engineer, as i had a gift for this. I was 21 when I went to college.

This was God working. Losing a job brought me to where I “accidentally” found the skill I was destined for. I had no foresight of this skill, accept I had thought during high school that being an engineer sounded like interesting work, but then forgot about that later.

In my senior year, I applied to a graduate school for a PhD and was accepted. But on a lark, I decided I wanted to see New York City, so I interviewed with the first company that was from the City that came to the university (University of Dayton) at that time, and was invited out to New York City for an interview. I went, and spent a weekend in NYC, enjoying myself immensely. They offered me a very good salary for that time. I was 25, and decided to take that job for a few years to see the City, and withdrew my PhD letter of acceptance. This was 1959.

I had heard they had one of the premier television research labs in the world, (I did not know that when I had accepted the job) so I called them to see if I could work there – I loved the technology of television. But I was told that one had to have a minimum of 15 years of experience, and they rarely had openings even then, as it was a very small group. I had to have knee surgery right after graduation, and it was August before I drove from Ohio to NYC for the job, over 600 miles.

On my first day, i was informed that just the previous Friday, the television research lab had requested a fresh young engineer to train, and it was mine if I still wanted it. I jumped at the opportunity. There were only 7 working in the lab, and the main engineers I worked with literally wrote the book on television as we know it today, from a technological view. My boss had 120 patents, including the basic patent on the U.S. Television standard. I spent 10 years as an “apprentice” learning the fundamentals of visual analysis, getting three patents myself, and growing in my profession.

Once again God worked in my life, as I followed the instincts that were in me on living life with expectations and effort, always looking ahead and expecting, never doubting, God to give me support. Some people called me “lucky”, but I knew it was not luck or fate, but the gift from God, supported by prayers and acceptance, but never with a sense of being “owed” this, just acceptance and expectation that all will be well.

I found an apartment in the town of Port Washington on Long Island, and joined the local Catholic Church, where I found the “18-30” club, for young single Catholics. Six months later this beautiful Irish Lass walked across the street from her home, and joined the club. We were married a little over a year later, as it was “love at first sight”, after I hasd worked up the nerve to ask her out. We celebrated our 53rd anniversary this year, having raised seven children, to our delight.

Again, God was guiding me/us to pick that town, find compatible friends, and meet my soul mate.

I had my visionary experience in December, 1967, just before our fourth daughter was born. We were already deeply involved with our faith, in a movement aimed at bringing God to the everyday life, and that continued. We had a nice house on Long Island, and In the summer of 1970 we ‘decided’ (God talking, as you will see) to take a vacation, and went to a state park in the Finger Lake Region of New York, and fell in love with the rolling hills, farm land, and so much beautiful sights in nature. I recall driving by a big blue building in Binghamton NY, and saying to my wife “I would really like to live in this area, but I am television and visual specialist, so who could use me here?”

That fall the company failed to win a contract they were banking on, and had to drastically restructure. They closed the research lab, and laid off 750 engineers.

Once again I was without a job, and we had five children to feed. Unlike most all others, I accepted what was, and knew I had another job: find a paying job that could feed and house our family of seven, plus my wife’s mother who lived with us.

That Sunday there was a one inch advertisement in the New York Times Job Wanted section that “had my name” all over it, describing my specialized analytic skills to a tee. The address was in Connecticut, but that was all right, so I answered. A few weeks later I was asked for an interview, and it was for upstate New York, not Connecticut, which was only a “head hunter” address. As I drove up to the building, I recognized it as the building we had passed where I had expressed my wishes to live in the upstate area. I was hired, and we moved to our present location in 1971.

God really does respond to a person’s desires, if properly put, without demands but with expectations. We had wanted to raise our children In a more natural setting than in Long Island, not only for ourselves, but to be able to give our children a ready source for the joy of nature, and so God adjusted our lives to permit that to occur. Sure I was laid off, but God used that period to move us where God had led us the preceding summer (“Before you ask, I shall answer”, Isaiah 65:24). We, on our side, gave no demands of any type on place or anything else, just expecting that we would find a good place to be where we could continue to follow God’s will as we understood it, and raise our family in a good setting and atmosphere.

These are only scratching the surface of all the things God has given us, for it is truly said “Search first for the Kingdom of God, and all else will be granted you”.

Now believe me, I am no Master. No indeed. I am a long way from that, but I feel I have moved several steps, small as they are, towards that goal. I am an Enneagram 8, which tends to dominate and bulldoze all opposition, and too many times I find myself in that position, having to apologize deeply afterwards, and injuring relationships.

But God knows I am trying, even when my mouth is running off with itself carrying me along with it.

Meditation

Thank you God, for your continued gifts of Life that you have showered upon us. We bow our heads and bodies in gratitude for life, all of life, even when we could see from our position that there was apparently no way out, You continued to surprise us with Joy and Life, then more Joy and Life. We have, and accept, the limitations that have crept upon us at our age, and realize they are a part of the pattern of life that is human. We give thanks for all You have showered upon us during this cycle of life, life never ending. We rejoice to be part of the evolution of Life in our universe, where we can see and experience to unfolding of Life, to eventually reach its fullness of being as the cycle of humanity continues. We only have to open our heart and mind and soul, to reach the ultimate knowledge of our oneness with You, our Eternal Wisdom.