Surprises

I am two months into my job and there have been quite a few surprises

• I am surprised at how frustrating it is to only work 40 hours a week
• I am surprised at how easy it is to work 80 hours
• I am surprised at how much people at work care about my mental health and make me take a day off
• I am surprised at how easy-going many people are in the office
• I am surprised at how many people come in late because they went surfing or leave early to go golfing
• I am surprised at how much laughter can be in an engagement team working around the clock to meet a deadline

These are more or less lifestyle or perspective surprises. The surprises that have really convicted me are:

• I am surprised at how many people bow their heads before they eat a meal
• I am surprised at how many people talk about God making his will clear through provision and open doors
• I am surprised at how many people talk about church groups and bible studies

It's almost like I was expecting and preparing myself to be a lone ranger Christian at work; that I don't think the body of Christ exists outside of church or Biola. Maybe I was used to the lip-service Christianity of high school or I had heard too many horror stories about the debauchery of the business world. But either way, I have realized that I guess I don't expect much from the body of Christ in terms of support outside a church environment.

But even in this convicting realization of how I view my fellow believers, it is evident that God has answered prayers of making his presence known and providing people at work to encourage me and watch out for me.

You know you stay late at work when...

• You get locked IN the building
• You eat more at your desk than you do at your dinner table
• When you leave, the calendar on your phone says a different day than when you got to the office
• The days have blended together
• You have no idea what the weather was actually like that day
• You enjoy the Disneyland fireworks...from the freeway
• You call leaving at 8pm early

Two weeks ago, I was sitting at my desk counting ceiling tiles...now, I am experiencing fall busy season and have not been at my apartment for more than sleeping for the last two weeks. It is nice to have work...but man, this is getting interesting...September 15th can't come fast enough and yet it is coming a little too fast.