The life that God chose for us...

I get asked a lot "Why did Butch choose this job?". The answer to that is quite simple. He didn't choose this job for our family. God chose it for him.

Eight years ago Butch was working at a local grocery store as a butcher (hence the nickname). The
grocery store used to fill all of the grocery orders for the tug company once a week. When Butch inquired about the orders, he was intrigued.

When it came for the groceries to be picked up, Butch found himself chatting with a really nice guy who enjoyed telling Butch all about the company and what they did. Butch was really interested!

There are several things I should probably point out about Butch, and here they are, in no particular order:

• Butch served in US Navy right out of highschool.
• Butch is hyperactive very active and could never sit still at any type of desk job
• Butch will talk to a post. (Hence chatting up the man with the groceries)
• Butch has had several careers since we married, but each job move has been a move UP!
• I don't know a man who works harder than Butch. He will tackle any job, and if you tell him he can't do something then you had better just sit back and watch while he does it.

The company that Butch works for now has two types of employees....full-time and relief list. The relief list guys are the guys waiting for a full-time spot to open up. They work on a call-out basis when a deckhand is needed due to sickness, injury, or the need for a personal day off. At this point there are about 6 guys on this list and some of them have been waiting for full-time work for 6 years.

When Butch was chatting up the man with the grocery order, he didn't realize he wasn't just talking to anyone. He was talking to a member of management in the office. Mr. Manager guy told Butch if he was interested to come talk to him. He liked that Butch had prior maritime experience with the Navy and probably also noticed that under the white meat coat there were some fairly nice guns produced by cutting meat, which would come in handy for a deckhand!

We discussed  the job  that evening when Butch came home. He went and talked to the company that week.  He put in his two week notice at the grocery store and began training on the boat on his off days.

SO......how do we know this was a God ordained thing???
Because Butch was hired immediately. In a full-time capacity.
Because in the Navy, Butch was certified in shipboard firefighting. (Did you know tugboats fight fires? That's another blog post!)
Because the job paid several times more than his current job.
Because it gives him JOY.
Because it gave us PEACE.
And because we know that God has a plan for us.

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future".  Jeremiah 29:11