My Career Path

My Career Path

 

When I graduated from high school in 2003 I was a very confused young man. I did not know much about life but I knew few things about Jesus Christ. I did not have street smarts—I matured very late!--but I knew few Biblical principles. One of the things I knew was that God has a plan for my life and being a new high school graduate I wanted to know His will for my career. So I decided after high school I would work wherever until I discern my God-given talents, and once I know His will for my career then I would pursue getting an education that prepares me for that career path. My high school teachers did not understand why would a student whose overall average never dropped below 90% would want to be a general labourer.

 

Anyway, after graduating I went to few temporary work agencies to find work. I had to buy steel toed safety shoes because most general labour jobs require them. Pretty soon I found myself working in the warehouse of a clothing company. My boss was a Chinese man who had spent 30 years working there, and my supervisor was an older Chinese man who been working there for many years too. They soon liked me and hired me after 6 months, while temporary workers who have been working there for years were still working for the agency. Two months after being hired the company had their annual wages raise and I did not qualify for it because I had to be working as a full-timer for a full year to qualify for it. But my boss called me into his office and told me that he liked the work I did and wanted to help me and so he gave me a 6% raise which I really appreciated. When I left the office the senior full time workers asked me how much I had gotten for a raise so I told them 6% and suddenly they disliked me! I did not know why their attitude changed toward me until the next day when I found out that the reason was becausethat all full-time workers had gotten only a 3% raise. Like I said, I was very naive and I did not know better as not to disclose this information. Anyway, in the next 3 years my boss had given me about 45% raise, while they had gotten anywhere between 1-3% annual raise.

 

The reason my boss liked me is that I did every and anything without complaining—I simply did whatever they asked me no matter how menial it was. The Bible says in Colossians 3:23, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” And my mottos were, “I get paid by hour so I work by hour”, and, “There is a reason why it is called ‘general labour’”—so I never complained about the type of work I had to do or the pay because when I accepted a general labour position I understood two things: I will get paid little, and I will have to do a physical and dirty work.

 

Anyway, my boss realized I loved to fix mechanical things: paper shredder, lift truck, a table, a cart. So over 3 years he kept asking me to fix broken things around the warehouse, and I realized how much I loved working with gears and mechanical things in general. These experiences brought back memories of how in my teenage years in Iraq I spent all my summer breaks building remote controlled cars, airplanes, and making toy guns and foosball tables, and so on! So I knew I wanted to become a mechanical engineer and therefore 4 years after working in the warehouse I started studying mechanical engineer at UofT.

 

What I really want to draw attention to is God’s goodness. See, I did not choose the warehouse I worked at but our heavenly Father put me in the right place working for the right boss. People told me that I was working in the wrong place because of their limited wisdom, but God in His infinite wisdom knew what He was doing. God knew what I needed, and so He put me where I needed to be. Being a stubborn person I knew better than listening to people—no matter how well intended their intentions were—because I knew few things:

 

1) God is real—He exists! (Hebrews 11:6)

2) He is the God of the Bible and I know Him because He revealed Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. Whenever I wondered, “Who is this God I am waiting for?” I realized I knew who He is because I knew who Jesus Christ is. (John 14:9)

3) He is a good, loving, faithful, wise and powerful God, and He is my heavenly Father.

4) He has His own timing and ways of doing things.

 

So working at the warehouse was His way of helping me find my God-given talent. When I applied to UofT I was told that it was a good thing I had applied then because any high school diplomas older than 4 years old would not be accepted; I did not know that but God did and that was His timing.

 

***

 

I worked at the warehouse for 2 summer breaks while I was a student at university. In the third summer, in 2010, the clothing company was going through bankruptcy and so they did not have work for me. I needed work because I needed money for the next school year so I applied to some summer engineering internship. I got an interview so I went to it. The interview lasted 2.5 hours and it was by far the worst interview I had ever heard of! It was so bad that it did not matter what I answered to the questions of the engineer who was interviewing me, the answers were wrong! I mean, he even criticized the font size I used in my resume—which was 11 points instead of 12! I wanted to be out of there so bad, and I hoped he would not hire me because I was too embarrassed to see him again! At the end of the interview he told me that his career was delayed 4 years also because when he graduated, some 30 years earlier, Canada was going through a recession and he could not find a job for 4 years.

 

After the interview my sister asked, “How did the interview go?” And I told her, “Don’t even ask. If he hired me it would truly be a miracle!” And she said, “That’s right. We have a God who works on our behave.” Two weeks later he called me offering the job alongside one of my classmates. He initially just wanted to hire one student—which was my classmate--but decided to hire me anyway. My boss (the interviewer) turned out to be a very cool and nice man who I learned a lot from. I think I did a good job there and I was offered a full-year internship but I really wanted to go back to school and finish it as soon as possible. Of course this 4 months long engineering experience helped me a lot to include an actual engineering experience on my resume.

 

For some reason I never felt qualified to do that job, even though I believe I did a good job. I think it is because the engineer who hired me did so more because he felt sorry for me than needed my services. (I think he also hired me because he was able to associate with the experience of having your career delayed 4 years.) I want you to keep this in mind because I will touch back on this point later.

 

After graduating in 2011 I was desperate for a job, any job, and after few months I found myself working at a government company. I worked there for 6 months and I did not like the job even though the people were nice and the pay was good. My task in the last 2 weeks was so boring that on the last day I was afraid my boss would extend my contract! I so wanted to be out of there even though I knew that would mean I would be unemployed and without money!

 

After a couple of weeks and getting bored of staying at home I prayed a short and simple prayer asking for two things:

 

1) I told God that the point of studying mechanical engineering was not to become any engineer or to make money, but to put the talents He had given me into practice. That means I want a design position, and engineering is such a broad field that you can do so many things that are not related to your God-given talents.

 

2) I told God that I wanted to work at a company that wants to hire. A company that believes I am valuable to it. A company where I feel appreciated.

 

Few weeks ago I saw this job advertisement on the internet seeking a mechanical designer at an office furniture company. The job required the candidate to have 2-3 years experience and knowledge of sheet metal and a design software called AutoCAD. I did not have any of the requirements so I did not apply to that position, and I can still remember thinking, “This sounds like the job I want, but too bad I don’t qualify otherwise I would’ve applied to it!” Next day a staffing agency called me and told me to come see them about that same position. I was very surprised and so I went to the agency. I was so surprised by the whole ordeal that at the end of the interview with the agency personnel I asked him, “How did you get my resume?” He looked surprise and said, “What do you mean? You sent it to me!” I am sure I sent him my resume and I don’t remember it because I applied to quite few jobs, but the strange thing is that I only remember not sending the resume!

 

I told the agency that I have no experience in design and I have no knowledge with sheet metal or AutoCAD, but they told me it is ok because the company wants to interview me. So I went to the interview and half way through the interview the senior engineer and hiring manager asked me, “When can you start?” And I was taken aback by his question because they usually ask that question after the interview is over and they usually ask it very casually like, “If you are the successful candidate, what date are you available to start?” So I asked, “Me?” And he laughed and said, “Yes!” And his expression was like, “Who else?!” And I felt like the senior engineer really wanted to hire me, not because he felt sorry for me, but because he believed I can be a valuable member of his team.

 

The week after I was interview by a human resources lady and half way through the interview she said, “That’s impressive.” And again I felt like I was being valued at this company. That is when I remembered the request in my prayer.

 

***

 

Christians we often say, “Trust and obey.” In my life I noticed that is not the complete picture because it is more like, “Trust, obey and trust.” See our obedience is not the end of the story because our obedience is not what gets things done. Our obedience is only an expression of our faith; you say you trust God? Ok then act on this trust by obeying Him. But it is God who gets things done—God’s work is the end of the story. That is why after obedience we still need to trust again to see Him complete His work. For example Gideon trusted God will bring victory though him so he obeyed by downsizing his army to mere 300 men, and then he trusted again as he saw God defeating the enemy—trust, obey, and trust again.

 

There are few things I want to draw your attention to:

 

1) We must pray according to God’s will. Supposed that I had prayed for God to make me a successful singer, do you think He will honour my request? The answer is no, because singing is not my talent. When you pray according to God’s will then you do not have to beg and you can pray with confidence. You cannot disobey God and expect Him to fix your deliberate mistakes by simply praying about it.

 

See, I like classical music but that does not mean I have to become a musician—I can simply enjoy the music of others. I like tennis but that does not mean I have to become a tennis player—I can simply enjoy the game of others. I like cars but that does not mean I have to build my own car—I can simply enjoy the cars made by others. It is wonderful and freeing to know and accept God’s will for our lives. If we do then we can accept ourselves and others, appreciate our talents and the talents of others, and be confident of the path we are to take.

 

2) Focus on God’s goodness. When I was a new Christian I thought that I was saved by grace but I am to live by works, but we are both saved and are to live the Christian life by God’s grace. If I told you how imperfect and sinless I am then you would say, “Fadi, there is no way God was involved in answering your prayers or your career path!” But this is not about me but about God’s goodness. I have come to the point if life when I do not worry much because I trust in the goodness of God. I am not saying this to encourage you to sin but to free you from worry and the false teaching of living by works.

 

See, our God is a good God. We are His children not because of our works but because of the Cross of Jesus Christ. For example, suppose that you are Christian and you are an alcoholic and you are struggling with quitting drinking and suppose that your marriage is in trouble and your family needs a healing. Do you think God is going to say, “Gee! Look at this Christian! He can’t stop getting drunk and now He needs my help to heal his marriage! There is no way I am doing that for him! Let him fix himself first then come asking for My help! I am so going to destroy his marriage in the meantime!” No, of course not! At least that is not how the God of the Bible operate and He is the only real God.

 

Suppose if I am holding the hand of my nephew and we are walking on the side walk but he really wants to run into the busy street to play, do you think I will let him do so just because he wants to? Of course not! I won’t act based on his attitude or actions, but based on my goodness and the fact that I am his uncle and he is my nephew and that I love him! For you this may not be big news but to me it is because I grew up in a Middle Eastern culture where there is no Biblical understanding of who God is. That is why I want to stress the goodness and love of God to you.

 

3) We are not ruled by the ways this world rule. We are God’s children born by the power of the Holy Spirit, and therefore we do not belong to this world. The principles of this world do not apply to us because we are governed by spiritual principles such as God’s goodness, obedience, and glorifying our heavenly Father. The way God works in our lives is not the same way the world strive to achieve their dreams. Recently I offered to help a Christian facebook friend with her resume because she did not have one and she was about to give up applying to better jobs because she had no resume. The first thing she told me is that people have told her that she needs a really good resume to get a job as a hospital pharmacist. And that made me reflect on my career path and I answered her saying that if God wants her to work somewhere He can do it even if she had no resume at all! That is what He did to me: I got a job I am so unqualified for! He made me find favour in the eyes of the engineers who interviewed me; they knew I was not qualified for the original job posting so maybe they created a junior job position for me.

 

4) Do not worry. My mom says it is not good that I am worry free (I do worry, of course, but much less than the average person) because she wants me to hurry and get married, and have kids, and buy a house, etc. But why should I worry? If, motivated by love, God sent His only and beloved Son to die for my sins before I was even born, then what can separate me from the love of my heavenly Father? See, my attitude toward life does not come from self-confident (if you had read my older writings you will realize I grew up with no self-confidence), nor my careless attitude toward life as some people think I am, but from my trust “that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his.” (Romans 8:28) It is good to read the Bible and understand it, but a time must come when we start living it.

 

I talked about God’s goodness toward me and my career path, but His goodness extends to all areas of our lives: spiritually, physically, emotionally, mentally, financially, relationships, and so on. He wants to take care of you whether it is in regard to your career, marriage, big decisions such as buying expensive things like a house or a car, or planning a career move or even finding the right mechanic for your car!

 

Few years ago I asked, “How can I get to know God as my heavenly Father since I do not have an idea what a good father is?” I asked that question because I rarely saw my earthly father while growing up because he had to spend most of his time in the army. I learned about what is it like to have a good father from God Himself; God did not need someone to go ahead of Him to show the way—He showed the way! He set the pattern of love, goodness, generosity, and serving and He set the pattern of how to be a good Father.

 

(Toronto, ON; summer 2012.)

 

Done