It is paradoxically beautiful that what a fiend called the
devil uses to destroy us, is what a friend called God uses to deploy and
elevate us. As Joseph told his brothers who had sold him into slavery, "God turned into good what you meant for evil."
That is what I
told a distraught young man who had been conned dry and was hiding from
his bosses and the bank. After campus, Paul (not real name) got a job
with some Indian business men that grew to love and trust him so much
that when they took a one-year holiday back home, they left him entirely
in charge of their business. Paul worked harder and grew the
electronics business into hundreds of millions.
That was before he met and fell in love with a "smashing beauty" on one of his trips abroad. A few months later, they went to a registrar and got married. During their honey moon, his wife sold him a million-dollar idea – to start dealing in minerals. Paul sold everything in the shop, got a loan from the bank (using his father's land as collateral) and topped up the money with his savings and gave the money to his wife. That is the last he saw of her. Now his Indian bosses are back, the bank wants its money too, and Paul's father feels betrayed by a son he so loved and trusted.
"That is the shit I'm in man," he told me. "I used to hear of murderers and wonder how some people can be so heartless, but now I know I can kill somebody!"
I thought about St. James telling us to be happy when faced with trials since they make us mature. I remembered in Bernard Shaw's The Devils Disciple that "it's in the hour of need that a man finds his true profession" and told Paul to style up and see the rainbow behind his storm. But all he could think of was his loss and the prospect of arrest.
"Now seeing a woman is like seeing Satan," he sobbed.
I reminded him of the shrewd and ambitious young man he was; how he used to dream traveling the world, counting pearls and diamonds. That brought a smile on his little boy blue face. Paul calls himself "conqueror" and I know he is not going to let his first major trial destroy him.
In his book, Discovering Your Destiny, Bob Gass writes: "Storms come for a reason. They also come for a season. Discover the reason and become wiser. Outlast the season and become stronger. But never quit."
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| Baby don't cry: there's a rainbow behind every storm |
That was before he met and fell in love with a "smashing beauty" on one of his trips abroad. A few months later, they went to a registrar and got married. During their honey moon, his wife sold him a million-dollar idea – to start dealing in minerals. Paul sold everything in the shop, got a loan from the bank (using his father's land as collateral) and topped up the money with his savings and gave the money to his wife. That is the last he saw of her. Now his Indian bosses are back, the bank wants its money too, and Paul's father feels betrayed by a son he so loved and trusted.
"That is the shit I'm in man," he told me. "I used to hear of murderers and wonder how some people can be so heartless, but now I know I can kill somebody!"
I thought about St. James telling us to be happy when faced with trials since they make us mature. I remembered in Bernard Shaw's The Devils Disciple that "it's in the hour of need that a man finds his true profession" and told Paul to style up and see the rainbow behind his storm. But all he could think of was his loss and the prospect of arrest.
"Now seeing a woman is like seeing Satan," he sobbed.
I reminded him of the shrewd and ambitious young man he was; how he used to dream traveling the world, counting pearls and diamonds. That brought a smile on his little boy blue face. Paul calls himself "conqueror" and I know he is not going to let his first major trial destroy him.
In his book, Discovering Your Destiny, Bob Gass writes: "Storms come for a reason. They also come for a season. Discover the reason and become wiser. Outlast the season and become stronger. But never quit."
