The Journey 169
Read: Jonah
Everyone loves to work for a great company. To work for a great company is both a prestige and also the returns for one life and living is also sometime fabulous. While in India, I still remember my friends proudly telling me that they work for companies like Infosys, Wipro, IBM, Samsung and so on. There was a spark and a glitter in their eyes as they talked about their work and the company that they worked for. Here in United States I read the list of 100 best companies that one can work in the year 2012, released by Fortune, a list which is co authored by Robert Levering and Milton Moskowitz. Number 1 as the top employer list in US is Google. Google has about 18,391 employees. The attraction to work for Google is because it has a great campus, tons of perks and you become a part of a highly skilled co-workers, and more that that there is a feeling of prestige among Google employees. Second on the list the Boston Consulting group based in Massachusetts. This is a professional services group dealing with consulting and management. Third on the fortune list is SAS based in North Carolina, while fourth is Wegmans Food Markets based in New York, which has about 41,717 employees. Fifth on the list is Edward Jones based in Missouri. Net App, Camden Property Trust, Recreational Equipment, CHG Healthcare services and Quicken Loans take the sixth to the tenth position. In all these job opportunities people always look mainly for a good salary, financial remuneration and additional perks like retirement benefits, pension and so on. Very few people link meaning in life, passion about ones work and God’s calling to their professional job. It is in such a context, that we need to rediscover the glory of ones professional work and calling that God has given to each one of us. Today is a big and a memorable day for me because I complete 24 years working in God’s ministry, 24 years of working as a clergy in the Marthoma Church. I had never dreamt that I would be a clergy of the Marthoma Church and never in my life planned to be a clergy. But there are times in life when you consciously think as you ask yourself “ Why do you live”, “ What is the meaning of life and how can I live a life of meaning and purpose”. It is these questions that led to me to know Jesus Christ and I am proud to say that I committed my life to the Lord on this day “June 18”. I was a Sunday school teacher for a number of years and when I used to teach Sunday school, I always use to take the singing session. At the end of the singing session I use to sing the song “ When He calls me I will answer, I’ll be somewhere working for my Lord”. This was something that I used to do regularly every Sunday, until one day as I sang the song with the Sunday school children, the Lord spoke to me and I was convinced that the Lord was calling me to work for Him in His ministry. I kept on rejecting God’s call but finally I felt that I could not run from God nor from His call. Great is God’ work and His plan. God’s divine plan was once again manifested when on June 18th itself, in 1988, that I got ordained as the clergy of the Marthoma Church. I am always honoured to say I am in the service of the Lord and in the ministry of the Marthoma Church. All the blessings that I have received in my life is because of the grace of our Lord, because of my position as clergy of Marthoma Church and finally due to the constant prayer support that I have received from my parishioners and friends all over. Life for me is very meaningful and working in the Lord’s ministry is the most passionate thing that I do. What about you? Are you passionate about your job and your life? If not God is calling you to work for Him. Willing to work for a “Boss who is a Jewish Carpenter”